Unmei no Tsubasa
by Crimson Justice
Summary: Rewriting SEED Destiny...well, parts of it, anyway.Rated for language, mostly.Pairings: ShinnxStella, later ReyxLuna. Possibly some AthrunxCagalli, KiraxLacus, mild onesided AthrunxMeyrin later, maybe, possible YzakxShiho and DearkaxMiriallia.
1. 23 Shadows of War

Well, this is a project I started to recreate _Gundam Seed Destiny_'s ending, taking the first two thirds or so of the series, and going from there to write something more to my liking – and yours, I hope. Personally, I thought everything after Episode 34 more or less sucked, except for the Destiny Gundam. I start with the battle in the Indian Ocean, because I thought Heine deserved a much better death than what he got. After that I pick up immediately after the Battle of Berlin.

**MAJOR DIFFERENCES:**

-Kira will be bed-ridden for a long while after Angel Down. In my opinion, his injury(or near-total lack thereof) as portrayed in animation was complete BS, considering what happened to him. This version will reflect that, and of course there will be some significant plot changes as a result.  
-Battles are going to be changed somewhat, especially those towards the end of the series, such as Orb and the battles in space. There will also be some changes to the Destiny Gundam, but nothing major, as well as some changes in characters that die/survive.

**DISCLAIMER**

I own _SEED Destiny_...

Yeah, right. I wish. I don't own this, it's just a fanfic...I don't know who owns this. Whoever does, this is how certain events in _SEED Destiny_ would have turned out if I did own it. But I really don't own this.

* * *

**Phase 01: Shadows of War**** (Phase 23)**

"The LHM-BB01 _Minerva_...it is certainly a very impressive ship, very different from the Nazca-class." Heine Westenfluss, of the Supreme Council's Fast-Acting Integrated Tactical Headquarters, said as he looked around him. He was being given a tour by three of his new subordinates, Lunamaria Hawke, Shinn Asuka, and Athrun Zala, while maintenance personnel loaded his ZGMF-X2000 GOUF Ignited into the hangar. A prototype for the next-generation mass-produced mobile suit, it was fast and agile, and fairly well-armed.

-"Did you serve aboard a Nazca-class, Commander?" Lunamaria asked.

-"I was attached to the Hawkins Team during the last War. We were assigned to ZAFT military HQ until the first battle in this war, where I launched from the _Waldegg_." After a brief pause, he added, "I would appreciate it, Lunamaria, if you, and all the other pilots, dropped the formalities and called me Heine. It is my name, after all, and aren't we all soldiers? What, Athrun, is it you who has them all refer to me as 'Commander'? Whether you're in FAITH or not, whether your uniform is red or green, we're all pilots of ZAFT, and we should work together, as friends. Is that not so?" Athrun found himself wishing he were more like the Commander, and said so.

-"Excuse me? It's Heine. You aren't joking with me here, are you?" Heine asked, "Trying to give the new guy a hard time?" Athrun

-"I'm sorry, Com...Uhm, Heine"

-"See? Isn't that better?" The statement wasn't a question. They moved on, and as Athrun gave Heine the tour of the ship, the older Commander fell back and turned to Shinn. "Shinn Asuka. I've been meaning to congratulate you on your performance during the Battle in the Gulnahan Ravine."

-"You were there, sir? Heine?" Heine briefly smiled.

-"Don't call me 'sir', it makes me feel old. Yes, I was there. Commander Hawkins ordered us all to hold on, until you could reach the Lohengrin. It was my last battle in my ZAKU Phantom, and also with the Hawkins Team. So again, congratulations on a job well done."

-"Thank you, Heine!" Shinn answered, and the group moved on.

Meanwhile, a massive Orb fleet, led by the enormous flagship _Takemikazuchi_, was making its way around the Cape of Good Hope. In the command post of the _Takemikazuchi_, Colonel James Todaka(AN: It was bothering me that he didn't have a first name, so I picked one – I liked James, for him) was discussing his next move with Lieutenant Colonel Ichiro Amagi(AN: ditto for him. I picked his at random, though)

-"So, Colonel. Our orders are to link up with the Atlantic Federation fleet and get in touch with the _John Paul Jones_?

-"That's right, Amagi.

-"This is...Doesn't this deployment, so far from home, run counter to the ideals of Orb?"

-"I know. But I'm counting on Lady Cagalli and the _Archangel_ to protect the ideals of our nation. I only hope they aren't too late."

Meanwhile, not far from the Black Sea, onboard the _John Paul Jones_, Colonel Neo Roanoke opened his new orders.  
-"Use the Orb fleet, huh? Well, that sounds like a plan - we'll send them ahead of us in the Dardanelles"

In a dimly-lit back-room, three glass-canopied, circular beds stood surrounded by machinery. Two of these alone were open and empty. The third opened, and a slender blonde, wearing a short, white dress and clutching a pale-blue handkerchief tightly in her hand, stirred, and sat up.  
She looked at the handkerchief, puzzled.

-"What's this?" For a second, she wasn't sure. She decided it was nothing, and set the handkerchief down on the bed as she stood and left.

"So then, we will go through the Channel, and attack from there." Talia Gladys finished her briefing on the attack, by all available ZAFT forces, on the Alliance facilities in the area around the Black Sea.

-"I'll go begin our launch preparations, then."

-"Yes, Arthur. Athrun?"

-"Yes, Captain?" the pilot addressed his commanding officer.

-"The reinforcement fleet the Alliance is expecting will soon arrive, which means we will almost certainly have to engage them as well. And these reinforcements are from Orb. Does that pose a problem for you?"

Athrun hesitated briefly. Behind him, Heine looked slightly concerned. That concern did not fade, even as Athrun answered.  
-"No, it's...it's okay."

-"Very well. We leave for the channel tomorrow morning."

The next morning, as it headed up the channel, the _Minerva_ found that the Orb fleet was waiting for them, and the Impulse and the Saviour launched.  
Shinn, even as he finished docking his machine's four Flyers, forming the X56S Force Impulse, raised his rifle and blasted away two Astrays. One of Orb's new models fired at him. Blocking the shot, he moved the Impulse and shot that mobile suit down as well.

Athrun, meanwhile, took out another two of the new transforming models – MVF-M11C Murasames - in his faster, more powerful Saviour. The flagship, an enormous naval carrier, launched more mobile suits - every machine it held in its hangars, a mixture of the new Murasames and M1 Astrays fitted with bulky flight packs.  
The _Minerva_, having verified that both its machines were out of danger, had turned to face the Orb fleet and begun charging its Tannhaüser positron cannon, when suddenly a rifle shot pierced the energy-charged barrel. Nine people were killed in the ensuing explosion, and the Minerva itself was severely damaged, though still capable of fighting. But the ship was forced to land on the water.

As Shinn and Athrun searched the skies, a black-and-white machine, which both pilots immediately recognized, flew down from the northwest.

-"The Freedom." Shinn's lip curled, and his eyes narrowed. Athrun, meanwhile, was shocked to see this machine, which, the last time he saw it, two years prior, had been a smoking, radioactive wreck.

-"Kira? Cagalli?" He cried as he recognized, in between the Freedom and the _Archangel_, a red-and-pink mobile suit, otherwise identical to the old Aile Strike.  
Cagalli broadcast to everyone in range, asking that Orb stop the battle. Instead, the Orb fleet fired a volley of missiles at the mobile suit, and another at the _Archangel_, while the _John Paul Jones_ launched its mobile suits.

In his cockpit, Shinn sneered at Cagalli Yula Athha's naive attempts to stop the battle. Then, he noticed incoming Earth Forces machines headed towards the _Minerva_. Even as Heine's GOUF launched, and Rey and Luna's ZAKUs took up defensive positions atop the catapults, behind the Tristan cannons, Shinn intercepted the enemy machines, hacking the first in half with his beam saber, then shooting down two more with the beam rifle he still held in his other hand.

Athrun, meanwhile, had his hands full in a heated duel with the Chaos. The two mobile suits traded blows from their beam sabers, and when Chaos launched its weapons pods, Athrun moved out of its line of fire, and fired his own Beam Cannons. One shot missed, but another would've blasted the Chaos apart, had he not blocked.  
Redocking his pods, the Chaos's pilot began the duel at close-range again.

While all this was happening, Heine was dispatching enemy mobile suits with relative ease, his GOUF being faster and more agile than them. Suddenly, his threat receiver warned him that the Gaia was incoming.  
He turned around to see it charging, its beam saber held high for a vicious attack - which never came, as he launched his Slayer Whip, the weapon curling around its forearm.  
-"Heh...what did you think? This Mobile Suit's no ZAKU, pal! IT'S NO ZAKU!!" At Heine's command, a powerful electrical surge coursed through the whip, the current overloading the circuitry in the Gaia's forearm and causing it to explode, taking with it the Gundam's beam saber.

The Strike Rouge was still floating there, not doing anything, as Cagalli reminisced at length about her father's ideals, leaving the Freedom and a golden-yellow Murasame, piloted by Andy Waltfeld, to take out those enemy Mobile Suits, mainly Earth Forces models, which came too close. The Freedom's pilot aimed for their heads or arms, though several times, those machines he disabled, their pilot having lost control, subsequently slammed into the ocean.

Shinn, as the Freedom closes in to attack, fires the Impulse's beam rifle. The shot grazes its upper shoulder, but the Freedom flies right by, hacking off the Impulse's right forearm as it passes it.  
-"BASTARD!" Shinn yells

Behind Shinn was Heine, who in turn fires his Draupnir forearm-mounted four-barrel beam machinegun at the Freedom, with greater success, as shots pepper the front of the Mobile Suit. However, he loses his right forearm as well.  
-"Attacking everyone indiscriminately like that, who the hell d'you think you are, you cocky bastard!"  
The GOUF still had its Tempest beam sword in its left hand, plus a second Slayer Whip and Draupnir.

The Battle continues. The Freedom, engaged by the enemy's Abyss, briefly tangles with it, before severely damaging it with its beam sabers, and continues engaging Earth Forces Machines, as Athrun once more engages the Chaos at close-range. Heine, meanwhile, uses his remaining Slayer Whip and Draupnir machinegun to continue to destroy attacking Earth Forces mobile suits.  
Suddenly, he sees the Gaia raise its beam rifle, aiming at Shinn from behind. Swooping down in between them, he blocks the shot, but his shield is shot off. He retaliates with the machinegun on his left forearm, and closes in. His sword crosses the enemy's saber, and a duel begins. The GOUF manages to kick away the Gaia long enough for Heine to fire the Slayer Whip, obliterating the Gaia's remaining forearm. It switches to its Mobile Armor mode and ignites its wing beam blades, charging him down and firing its cannons. He dodges, passing to its left and peppering its flank with machinegun fire.

Together with Shinn, in spite of the younger pilot having lost his forearm, Athrun was continuing to take out Earth Forces mobile Suits.  
However, Athrun was still preoccupied with the _Archangel'_s appearance, and Cagalli's unheeded pleas for the battle to stop. In an instant of inattention, he failed to notice the Gaia come up behind him and fire - until Shinn kicked him aside, blocking the shot, and closing in on the Gaia to engage it at close-range.  
-"Watch your back, will you?"

A voice suddenly cried out . A Windam had slipped past the Archangel's defense line, and the Strike Rouge, with Cagalli onboard, was going down, severely damaged. The yellow transforming model swooped down, dispatching the attacker with a rifle shot that penetrated from behind, just below its flight pack, piercing the cockpit.  
Switching to Mobile Suit mode, it grabs the severely damaged torso of the MS and pulled it up. The hatch opens as the Gundam's red-and-pink colors fade to grey, and out comes the pilot, who stumbles into the other MS's open hand.  
Then, dropping the grey carcass, the MS steadily made its way back to the _Archangel_.

Shinn slashed at the Gaia's right wing, but it used its boosters to pass right by, losing some altitude. Shinn was then engaged by another Alliance mobile suit. In the second it took to dispatch it, the Gaia came up behind him, and fired.  
Shinn noticed too late - One shot missed, but the other slammed straight into the GOUF Ignited's cockpit, as the orange machine once again placed itself between its black enemy and its intended target.

-"NO!" Shinn screamed. Alerted by the cry and the flash of the explosion, Athrun looked up, briefly scanning the skies. He could not see Heine's GOUF anywhere, and the realization that it was the GOUF that had exploded hit him like a hammer-blow.  
-"HEEINEE!"

In a daze, still gazing at the falling debris of his Commander's, no, his friend's Mobile Suit, Athrun hears the order to retreat - The Alliance Fleets had pulled back. He returns to the ship, followed by Shinn, and the Minerva continues up the channel, towards Tarcuius.


	2. 32: Berlin

**DISCLAIMER**

I own _SEED Destiny_...

Yeah, right. I wish. I don't own this, it's just a fanfic...I don't know who owns this. Whoever does, this is how certain events in _SEED Destiny_ would have turned out if I did own it. But I really don't own this.

* * *

**Phase 02: Berlin ****(Phase 32)**

"NOOOOOOOO!" Shinn lashed out viciously at the Freedom, hacking its left forearm off, only to be violently thrown back as the enemy machine kicked the Impulse in the torso.

_'The enemy...that's right.'_ Shinn corrected his position. The Freedom was too far to catch up to, now. Looking around, he couldn't find the purple machine either. Suddenly remembering, He cut all power, and the Impulse landed heavily on the ground next to the monstrous Mobile Fortress.  
Leaving the cockpit, he clambered up the side of the thing, and tore the cockpit open, ripping his glove and cutting open the palm of his hand in the process.

There she was. He pulled her carefully out, and carried her out of the mobile suit, setting her down in its massive hand. She stirred. Her eyes opened.

-"Shinn..."  
-"Stella! Stella!" She didn't stir. Shinn felt tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "Why?', he asked himself, "Why did it come to this?" He called her name again. At last, she stirred. She saw him, and she managed a weak smile, despite her pain.  
-"Shinn...you...came to...see...me?" warm tears flowing down his face, Shinn barely managed to nod.  
-"Shinn...protect...Stella?" She asked. Shinn nodded, called her name again, through his tears. She slowly raised her had. Her fingertips brushed against his cheek.  
-"Shinn...I...love..you"  
-"Stella! STELLA!" Her eyes closed, her arm dropped by her side. "NO!" Shinn screamed until his throat hurt.

ZAFT soldiers and civilians were closing in. He stood, carrying her in his arms, and looked around. Nobody moved, and so he headed towards his Mobile Suit. As the hatch closed and the machine stood, he pressed his index finger lightly to her neck, and felt a very faint, very slow pulse...and felt it fading. He immediately took off.

Leipzig. Dessau. Potsdam. Berlin. All destroyed, thousands, if not tens of thousands dead. The nearest intact hospital would be in Magdeburg.  
Shinn flew below the radar, as fast as he dared. But by the time he arrived at last, her pulse had faded completely.

"What...the...hell?" Günter Klein, a young medical aid at Magdeburg Hospital, asked as he saw, of all things, a MOBILE SUIT touch down not two meters from the front of the hospital, kneel, and open its cockpit. A black-haired boy in a ZAFT-red flightsuit stepped out, holding a body - a girl, blonde, white and pink flight suit caked with blood from wounds on her shoulders, chest, forearms and left thigh.  
"Who're..."  
-"She needs help! NOW"  
-"Whe"  
-"Berlin. The Earth Forces almost destroyed the city. PLEASE! She's very badly injured." the fact that he himself was bleeding seemed moot.  
-"D...Doktor Müller"  
-"NOW! Please, she needs immediate attention"  
-"I'll get a stretcher." He was back two minutes later. As Shinn carefully laid Stella on the stretcher, Günter noticed the patch on her shoulder.  
-"Wait a minute...she's with the Federation! Why're...?" Though he'd meant to ask the boy why he was helping an enemy pilot, the question died in his throat, as the boy shot him a withering glare. 'Those eyes...' He shivered. "Her name is Stella. MY name is Shinn Asuka."  
-"I'll...We'll do our best..." His eyes softened - it was hard to believe such despair could come in such hard, cold eyes, in such a stern face. He brushed her cheek with his fingertips, and he looked at her with...was it love?  
-"Thank You." The boy said, and returned to his machine.

"Herr Doktor Müller, we have an urgent patient in need of immediate care"  
-"Wass ist das? A flight suit?" the rotund doctor's face darkened. "Berlin, ja?"  
-"Ja"  
-"Nicht gut. Well, there'll no doubt be more. I'll take care of this one." As they got her into care, Günter Klein couldn't help but dwell on the enigmatic boy who'd brought to them an enemy soldier, and the way he had looked at her.

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself"  
Shinn stood, still in his normal suit - though he'd bandaged his right hand, wounded God only knew how - as Talia Gladys tried to get an explanation out of her subordinate, who maintained the same stone silence.  
-"Captain Gladys, I am sure there is a perfect explanation for Shinn's lack of communication." Rey Za Burrel intervened. Rey was as pale as Shinn was dark - pale-blonde hair, pale skin, and the most unsettling ice-blue eyes, so mature for his age. It seemed strange that such complete opposites could be friends - yet they were closer than kin. "Perhaps he himself was incapable of doing so"  
-"Rey, he was completely out of contact, radio, radar or otherwise, for three hours! I nearly reported him MIA"  
Turning back to Shinn, she asked again. No answer.

-"Very well. Ensign Asuka, you will be confined to your quarters until further notice. You are forbidden from exiting your room until then"  
-"Yes, ma'am." First thing he said, and she'd been trying for nearly a half-hour.  
-"Dismissed." He left without a word. The door slid shut, and Talia Gladys, Captain of the LHM-BB01 _Minerva_, slumped in her chair.

"So. Our tests confirmed it. This man IS Mu La Flaga." Murrue Ramius looked confused, and a little scared. She also looked to be on the verge of tears. Kira was shocked, and he looked at the man lying in the infirmary bed.  
-"How...he was killed, though, wasn't he"  
-"Apparently not. Of course, he could be a clone, or something of that nature, but as far as we know, that's Mu lying in that bed.  
-"Who the...hell's...Mu?

The prisoner/patient had woken up. "My name...is...Neo." (**A/N:** Sorry, too perfect. Had to do that)  
"I am Colonel Neo Roanoke, Atlantic Federation...Eighty-First Independent Mobile Battalion. And...that's all...I'll say." Looking around, he saw handcuffs on his wrists, and he recognized the patch on the white uniforms around him _'a bit pompous, these uniforms'_ He joked to himself. "So...I'm a prisoner of war, huh? This an Orb Ship?" Unable to hold her tears, Murrue leaves the infirmary.

Later, Kira and Chief Murdoch find her in the officers' mess. Miriallia is doing her best to console her, but not very successful. Kira shakes his head. "So, that's really Mu in there"  
-"Think I liked it better when he was dead." Murdoch answers gruffly.  
-"Why, though"  
-"Think about it: If that's Mu, he doesn't know he is - he doesn't remember us, the last war, nothing! And most of all, he doesn't remember Murrue. For her, with how she felt about it, it's probably more painful, crueler a fate than when he was 'dead'." Murdoch stalked off, and Kira said softly

-"I don't really agree with that."

-"I brought you some food." Shinn sat in the dark, his knees brought up below his chin, his arms wrapped around his legs. He held a pink seashell, on a thin rope, tightly clutched in his bandaged right hand. When he looked up at Rey, the blonde saw that his friend's eyes were puffy and red.  
-"Thanks." a hoarse whisper. He'd been crying, as evidenced by his eyes, and the still-damp trails down his face. Rey sat next to his friend.  
-"You did your best."  
-"I couldn't...I couldn't save her...I..."  
-"I know. I know. But you did your best. It's up to the doctors now, and to fate."  
-"He lied to me...that bastard lied...he...he told me..." Inside, Shinn was berating himself for having entertained the notion even for a moment that an enemy soldier, and one who, moreover, hid his face behind a mask, could possibly be trusted.  
-"I know. It's okay"  
Shinn eventually sat down properly and began to eat, albeit half-heartedly.  
-"I need a favor."  
-"What?"  
-"I need anything we have on the Freedom. And I need your help."  
-"Sure. But let me tell you one thing: The Freedom's weakness is in its pilot, not the machine."  
-"What do you mean?"  
-"He always aims for the limbs or head, never the cockpit. It's his Achilles' Heel, he never shoots to kill. We can use that against him"  
-"To destroy him."  
-"Should it ever come to that. I'll do what I can." The door slid shut.

-"It will."Shinn muttered darkly."I'll make sure of it."

Neo Roanoke. the man who'd put Stella in that cockpit, after promising not to.  
And the Freedom's pilot, who'd nearly killed her - probably had killed her.

Before this War ended, Shinn vowed to himself, those two men would die by his hand.


	3. 33: Nightmare

**DISCLAIMER**

I own _SEED Destiny_...

Yeah, right. I wish. I don't own this, it's just a fanfic...I don't know who owns this. Whoever does, this is how certain events in _SEED Destiny_ would have turned out if I did own it. But I really don't own this.

* * *

**Phase 03: Nightmare ****(Phase 33)**

Shinn Asuka's eyes suddenly snapped open. he glanced at the alarm clock. 1:26AM.  
"Shit."  
Getting up, he drank some water, then lay back down. As he tried to go to sleep, he felt uneasy. It wasn't until a moment later that he knew why.  
He turned around, and saw that Rey's eyes were open.  
"How long've you been awake"  
-"Not long. You okay, Shinn?" Shinn didn't answer. He didn't need to - Rey knew when something was wrong with Shinn, as surely as Shinn knew when Rey wasn't doing well. The two were closer than brothers.  
"Nightmares?" Rey asked.  
-"Yeah...it's about...you know"  
-"That girl? The Alliance pilot?"  
-"Stella, yeah." Shinn noticed he hadn't called her "The extended". For some reason, he felt better about that.  
-"You did everything you could. Now, it's up to the doctors to do everything they can." Rey was the only one to whom Shinn had told what had transpired. He intended to tell Luna, but not yet.  
-"Get some sleep. You're gonna need it"  
-"Thanks, Rey."

8:30  
Shinn awoke to find Rey gone. Taking a quick shower, he started getting dressed. He'd just managed to get his pants on when Rey entered the room carrying a computer and external hard disk. Behind him was Luna with a tray of food.  
As Shinn ate breakfast, Rey set up the computer and loaded the data.  
"I see what you meant." Shinn said. "That guy never aims for the cockpit. I've noticed something else - he doesn't ever really get into prolonged battles"  
-"You're right. He either uses his machine's overwhelming firepower to disable his enemy at long range, or else he uses his speed and attacks at melee faster than the opponent can counter"  
Shinn grunted - he'd found himself at the receiving end of one of the Freedom's blitzkrieg-style melee attacks once before.  
As they were working, the door slid open, revealing Athrun Zala.  
"What're you two doing"  
-"What's it look like we're doing, Zala? Creating a combat simulation for use against the Freedom." Shinn made no secret of his scorn for his team commander.  
-"Why?" Athrun asked. Shinn sneered.  
-"Why else? It's far more powerful than the Impulse, and it's certainly more powerful than the Saviour. In fact, it's probably the most powerful mobile suit in the world right now. So if you're going to train, why not do it against the strongest opponent"  
-"But why? Kira isn't our enemy"  
-"That so? Why, because he's your friend?" Shinn asked, slightly stressing the last word. "Some friend he is."  
-"Shinn..."Athrun retorted, but Rey intervened.  
-"Shinn's right. He's not the enemy? How do you know that? How many people were killed when he destroyed the Tannhaueser? He also killed Heine, and he very nearly killed you when he destroyed the Saviour"  
-"He didn't..."  
-"It was his interference that distracted Heine from the Gaia. Ergo, he is as much responsible for his death as she was." Athrun was speechless. Rey continued "We don't know what he intends to do, so it's best to be prepared for anything. Don't you agree?"  
Athrun seethed inwardly not just at Shinn, but at Rey - what he said made sense. 'Persuasive stinky'  
"Now, we need every scrap of information we can get on the Freedom. Is there anything you could tell us?" Athrun didn't answer. Shinn scoffed.  
-"Like there's anything that loser can help us with?" Athrun turned around and left. Rey shook his head, and returned to the simulation.  
-"I will destroy the Freedom." Shinn said. But to himself, he added _'And when I find that bastard Neo, I'll destroy him too.'_

"Athrun"  
Athrun looked up. Lunamaria Hawke. She was a close friend of Shinn's and Rey's, but she was much more open than Rey, whose cautious, reserved silence unnerved Athrun, or Shinn, who plain hated him.  
"What's wrong?" She asked irreverently.  
-"Nothing, I'm fine"  
-"It's Shinn again, isn't it? You know, he got off pretty easy even for running off on his own like that. I mean okay, he's confined to his quarters, but it's not like he's locked up or anything. Must be because he's an ace or something."  
Athrun sighed.  
-"You want me to talk to Captain Gladys about it, or what?"  
-"Oh, no. But you know, you're wrong"  
-"About what"  
-"The reason he's like this. It's because he thinks you're weak. You can do more than this, but you don't. You know, if you make better use of the power you have, you work harder at using your authority to get things done, then he'll come around. Who knows, he might even start respecting you."  
Meanwhile, on the Bridge of the Minerva, Captain Talia Gladys was discussing the current situation with Arthur Trine, her Executive officer.  
"Hmm...well, what troops we have left in Berlin is supplying emergency aid to the civilians, and more relief forces are on the way from Gibraltar to all three of the cities destroyed by that thing. But still"  
-"I think it's clear the Alliance has gone too far this time, Captain."  
-"I agree. Three cities almost completely annihilated, and for what?"  
-"I think it's good that Chairman Durandal wants to avoid repeating the mistakes of the last war, but I really think we should hurry up and defeat whoever it is we have to fight."  
-"I think you're going to get an answer soon, Arthur. We received word that Chairman Durandal is launching a press conference."


	4. 34: Angel Down

**DISCLAIMER**

I own _SEED Destiny_...

Yeah, right. I wish. I don't own this, it's just a fanfic...I don't know who owns this. Whoever does, this is how certain events in _SEED Destiny_ would have turned out if I did own it. But I really don't own this.

* * *

**Phase 04: Angel Down ****(Phase 34)**

The near-destroyed Impulse Gundam hovers, over a hundred meters above the surface of the water, motionless. Inside the cockpit, His eyes closed, tears flowing down his face, Shinn's thoughts fly back to the young blonde woman who, even then, lay on a hospital bed in a small town not far from Berlin, near death.  
-"Stella...I...did it. I did it, Stella." He opens his eyes as he hears an explosion, and sees a column of water rising from the surface. "So ends the almighty Archangel." He mutters, his voice dripping with sarcasm.  
Turning his machine around, he heads slowly back to the Minerva, as the nearby Compton-class land battleship _Uhlenbeck_ launches a team of AWACS-DINNs to survey the battlefield.

"Uhm, _Uhlenbeck_, this is Sky-Eye Two. This _Archangel_ was a big ship, wasn't she?"  
-"That's right, Sky-Eye." answered Commander Willard, the big Compton-class ship land battleship's commanding officer. "A bit bigger than the Minerva. Why?"  
-"Well, for a ship that damned big, there sure ain't much in the way of debris down here. We'd need a sub-team to be sure"  
-"Roger, Sky-Eye. Stay out there, the _Degtyarev_'s in the area with an ASH-team, they'll handle it"  
-"Gotcha. I'll stay here so they can vector in on me. Sky-Eye, out." To himself, the DINN's pilot added "That Mobile Suit's definitely scrap, though. Holy shit, what a blast. Was that thing packing nukes, or what?" He had no idea how close to the truth he was, nor would he probably ever know.

Meanwhile, in the Minerva's hangar, Shinn was swarmed by a group of mechanical and maintenance personnel, congratulating him on his victory over the Freedom Gundam. Luna, and then Rey, squeeze through, and Luna congratulates him.  
-"No, all the thanks for this belong to Rey. If it wasn't for his help…"  
-"No, you're the one who made it happen, Shinn. I merely helped you find a way - your skill and determination is what allowed you to defeat him"  
-"Us, you mean. It's our victory, then"  
-"Us." Rey nodded, and the faintest hint of a smile appeared on his face.

Shinn fought his way out if the throng, and headed towards Athrun, who stood sulking in a corner again, as he'd so often done since he let himself get defeated by the Freedom in the Indian Ocean.  
"Well, I've taken revenge...for both of us." Athrun turns around, grabbing Shinn by the collar.  
-"What...Kira didn't want to kill you! So, you're proud that he's dead?!"  
-"There's nothing wrong with celebrating the defeat of a powerful enemy. Just because you weren't capable of doing it..." At this, Athrun punches the younger pilot in the face.  
-"There was no need for him to die!!"  
Shinn slams his fist into Athrun's stomach, flooring him. Looking down at the older pilot, he sneers. "What, because he's your friend? Then would you prefer it if I'd been the one to lose? You're pathetic."  
-"Kira and the _Archangel _were not the enemy." Athrun says again as he stands up.  
-"Yes, they were. How many people died because of his attack on the Tannhaueser?" Rey interrupted, stepping in between Shinn and Athrun. "And let's not forget Heine, or the fact that he nearly killed you as well"  
-"The Gaia..."  
-"The Freedom's interference caused Heine, and all of us, really, to lose track of the Gaia. He is therefore just as responsible for his death as she was." Shinn scoffed. They'd had this conversation before, and it hadn't gone anywhere then either.  
At a loss, Athrun hesitated. Rey continued. "Wherever they go, they bring chaos to the battlefield. Nobody knows who they answer to, nobody knows what their objective is. Therefore they are a threat." Athrun heard this, and remembered that Captain Gladys had said very much the same thing. Rey added "Because they pose this threat, the Supreme Council has ordered us to destroy them as the enemy, and it was our duty as soldiers of ZAFT to adhere to those orders. Don't forget what uniform you wear, Athrun Zala."

Shinn scoffed. Rey glanced at him, before turning back to Athrun. "As for your reaction, I will admit that Shinn's attitude is problematic. Nevertheless, it was wrong for you to reprimand him for doing his duty." Athrun looked at the two of them, and turned away. Rey and Shinn left together.

As Shinn, after a long shower, changed back into his uniform, Rey said.  
"I'm sorry, Shinn."  
-"What for?"  
-"For mentioning _her_, back there." After a moment's hesitation, Shinn looked over at Rey.  
-"That's okay. You didn't mean anything by it. And anyway, Gaia's ours again, now." Shinn talked it off, but inside, he felt a cold knot in the pit of his stomach, whenever he thought of her.  
The two pilots left, and Shinn said he wanted to get a drink.

Cagalli Yula Athha and Miriallia Haww entered the ship's infirmary to find the Doctor, an officer of the Orb military assigned to the Archangel shortly before the war began, finished putting away a variety of medical instruments. In the bed next to which he sat, Kira Yamato lay, bandaged but still unconscious.-"How is he?" Cagalli asked the ship's doctor. Miriallia just stood by her.  
-"Well, considering his fall, and the explosion, I'm amazed he's even alive. There's a slight trace of radiation poisoning, but nothing even remotely serious. Won't have any long-term effects. However..."  
-"What is it?"  
-"His wounds are extremely severe. I've staunched the bleeding as much as I could, but We'll have to wait for the wounds to heal. He has numerous broken bones, and a severe concussion. Right now, we just have to wait, and monitor his condition carefully."  
-"In a way, serves him right, going against the Impulse." Every head in the room capable of doing so turned towards Neo. "That kid is very dedicated, and very aggressive. Moreover, his skills are constantly improving."  
-"You've met him?" Neo's expression darkened.  
-"Once, yeah." As he spoke, Murrue entered the infirmary and addressed Cagalli.  
-"In spite of how heavily damaged the ship is, I'm certain we can make it back to Orb."  
-"And once we get there, what am I going to do? Moreover, what're you gonna do, now that your enemy is ZAFT?"  
Nobody answered - nobody had an answer. His expression somber, Neo looked at Murrue. "This LaFlaga...Mwu. What was he to you?" Miriallia gasped. Cagalli stood there, looking like she wanted to punch him. Murrue felt tears welling up again, but she blinked them away, and answered.  
-"He was a very good comrade...But he's gone, now." She stood, and left. Miriallia and Cagalli followed.

Several days had gone by. Accompanied by a fleet of Vosgolovs led by the Degtyarev, the Minerva had arrived at Gibraltar. In her office, Talia once more read over Commander Willard's report, forwarded to her by Gilbert Durandal.  
"Freedom Gundam confirmed destroyed. Archangel not found, possibly escaped"  
She sighed. Her monitor beeped, announcing that Meyrin had received a new message, ordering Shinn and Athrun to report to base headquarters immediately.

A few minutes later, Athrun stood inside a large hangar, accompanied by Shinn, where they were met by Chairman Durandal and "Lacus Clyne" - Athrun knew that she was in fact a fake, named Meer Campbell. The Chairman had shared that secret with him. Of the people in the darkened room, Shinn alone was unaware of the deception.  
Shinn eagerly shakes the Chairman's hands, and greets "Lacus". Athrun does so as well, but hesitantly.  
"I'd like to speak with you both for a while, but first, there's something I want you both to see..." As the lights come on, revealing two Mobile Suits, Durandal continues "The very newest and most advanced ZAFT Mobile Suits: The X42S Destiny, and the X66S Legend, which I believe will play an important role in our upcoming battles."  
-"Why is that, Chairman Durandal?" Athrun asked. The Chairman looked at him and smiled.  
-"Why, because these are your new Mobile Suits, of course."


	5. 37: Darkness

**DISCLAIMER**

I own _SEED Destiny_...

Yeah, right. I wish. I don't own this, it's just a fanfic...I don't know who owns this. Whoever does, this is how certain events in _SEED Destiny_ would have turned out if I did own it. But I really don't own this.

* * *

**Phase 05: Darkness**** (Parallels Phase 37)**

The Destiny Gundam hovers motionless, fifty meters above the surface of the water. Below, the remains of the GOUF Ignited sink slowly.  
"Shinn. Let's go"  
The Legend Gundam comes up behind him, and as the two head back, Shinn closes his eyes, holding his head in his hands.

_"The X42S Destiny Gundam's combat capabilities are the highest any Mobile Suit we've built has ever had - including the late X10A Freedom. It is built from the Impulse, but it is vastly improved on every level."  
Shinn gazes up at the slumbering giant. The Legend is more imposing, but Shinn finds himself drawn to Destiny - he looks at the two dark indentations below its eyes, like tears._

_It was tall and broad, broader than the Impulse, but it still looked indefinably sleek. Large wings were folded on its back, in between which Shinn could see a single sword, and two cannons. On its shoulders were weapons of some sort - sabers, Shinn surmised, or something along those lines.  
"The Destiny has been specially tuned to your performance, using the Impulse's data, Shinn. It is yours." The Chairman concluded. Shinn finally looks at him, ecstatic.  
-"Thank you so much, sir!"  
-"Your abilities are truly amazing, Shinn."  
-"No...not really." Shinn thought back to Stella, to Heine - all those he'd been unable to protect. Chairman Durandal shook his head.  
-"You have great power. So does this Destiny. Both you and this machine have limitless potential…Perhaps you two, together, can help bring an end to this war that burns through our world."_

_The Chairman then turns to Athrun.  
-"The X66S Legend Gundam is equipped with a new type of DRAGOON System. You may recall the X13A Providence fielded at Jachin Due." Athrun did, and the memory wasn't pleasant. He looked expressionlessly at the Chairman. "This Legend is rather a better design, I believe, because it is very capable in areas that were the Providence's weakness, though its firepower is not so overwhelming. Its DRAGOON System is also equipped with a quantum computer control system, making its use accessible to any pilot. I would like you to pilot it, Athrun." When Athrun didn't answer, Chairman Durandal asked "Is there something on your mind?"  
_

_-"Why did you order the Archangel to be destroyed?"  
-"Why do you ask?"  
-"They weren't the enemy! All they wanted was to end the war, just like you claim you do!"  
-"Ah, but then why did they not aid us towards that goal? If our goal and their goal was the same, then the Archangel and Minerva together should have worked to end the war. But, they sided against us, with Orb. With the Earth Alliance, the very same Earth Alliance that began this war and launched a nuclear attack on the PLANTs." The Chairman ended sharply. His expression softened, though, and he continued "The Freedom Gundam was too powerful to be allowed to run rampant as he did."  
-"They didn't…"  
-"I believe your friend Kira was...misguided. Or perhaps, ill-fated. He had tremendous power, but because he let himself be used by others and did not put his power to good use, all his good intentions came to nothing." The Chairman sighed.  
"All people in this world have a purpose in life, which they must understand. If one does not understand one's own purpose, then nothing can be accomplished, and existence itself becomes meaningless."_

_Turning to the two pilots, the Chairman looked at them both. Lacus Clyne stood by.  
"I believe," he said, "that our purpose - yours, Lacus's, and mine - is to create a peaceful world"  
-"If this war continues," Lacus supplemented, "who knows how many more people will die? We can not allow that to go on, Athrun."  
-"I agree. So that is why, tonight, I ask you: Will you help me? Will you lend me your strength, so that together we may bring peace to a world torn apart by bloodshed?" The Chairman looked from one pilot to the other.  
-"I will." Stella's memory rose again, and that of his mother, father, and sister, taken from him by war. "Any enemy who seeks to prolong it, whoever they are, I will fight. To end this war for good"  
-"What about you, Athrun?" After a moment, in which Athrun said nothing, the Chairman looked at him almost paternally, and said "If you need time to think, I will not rush you. The decision is yours alone, and you know best which path you will take."_

The two mobile suits land together, first Legend, then Destiny.  
"Athrun...a traitor?" Shinn was still shocked, even as he left the cockpit of the Destiny. He'd let his sword fall with the machine it had pierced, through the torso, just above the cockpit. A new one would need to be provided.

That night, he lay awake, reliving the Battle. Athrun's cries that Durandal was lying. Rey's rebuttal, telling Shinn that Athrun had become unstable, and had betrayed them. The Chairman's words. His own vow to fight any enemy. Sleep came difficultly, but at last Shinn's eyes closed.

He and Rey were summoned to meet with the Chairman the next day.  
"I want to thank you both for completing what I know must have been a very difficult task. To think that Athrun zala would stoop to treachery...it is unbelievable. Even moreso that he involved Meyrin Hawke. Are you all right, Shinn?"  
-"I'm fine." After hesitating, he asked "Chairman Durandal...why did Athrun and Meyrin betray us"  
-"I don't know. All I know is that he possessed a great deal of information, especially about the inner workings of ZAFT and about our technology. And the fact that he stole our very newest Mobile Suit...I also think he was very upset by Operation Angel Down's success.  
-"It's a known fact Athrun was very close to the Archangel's crew." Rey added. "It's possible he felt angered by the destruction of his supporters. He may have been a spy from the beginning, or else this is a recent development"  
-"Early in the war, Athrun came to me and asked that I avoid fighting at all costs. He had noble ideals, and so I reinstated him into ZAFT and into FAITH. I don't understand why he would feel angered about fighting Logos, the very enemy responsible for all this, and thus ending this war"  
-"There's no point in speculating. He betrayed us, that much is clear. As is the fact that Meyrin went with him willingly, and aided him in his attempted escape. Regardless, everyone will support us in this fight." Rey ended.

Later that afternoon, everyone was still severely shaken. Meyrin's replacement, a young girl called Abigail Windsor, had arrived onboard, but the atmosphere was still of shocked disbelief.  
As Shinn walked down the hallway, he saw Lunamaria.  
-"I'm sorry." He said softly as they passed each other. She looked at him, briefly. A moment later, he felt her grasp the back of his shirt, and she began sobbing uncontrollably.  
He turned around and held her in his arms as she wept, and he said again "I'm sorry."

The next morning at dawn, ZAFT's Vosgolov fleet, along with a huge formation of AMA-953 BABIs, new-model mass-produced aerial combat mobile suits designed to replace the near-obsolete DINN, left Gibraltar, heading north for Iceland, and Heaven's Base - the Alliance's new Headquarters.  
Following them was the Eurasian Federal Fleet, and even an Atlantic Federation Fleet, recently arrived at Gibraltar. At their head, the flagship _Minerva_ proudly sailed forward.  
From Gibraltar, Durandal issued an ultimatum to Heaven's Base two days later, as the fleets arrived within striking distance.

"All members of Logos hiding within Heaven's Base, including Jibril, the leader of Blue Cosmos, are to be handed over and will be tried for their crimes against humanity. Furthermore, all forces within this place must surrender and disarm. We will give you a full day to comply, and then we will attack."

In Orb, Cagalli Yula Athha listened, dismayed, at Durandal's ultimatum. The first thing that came to her mind was the same thing that sprang to the mind of Lacus Clyne, thousands of miles away, in an asteroid field in the Debris Belt, in a hidden facility housing a largeish, salmon-colored ship.  
"If Durandal succeeds, he will hold the entire Earth Alliance, as well as ZAFT...except for Orb and the Kingdom of Scandinavia. If that happens, he just may become unstoppable."


	6. 39: Freedom Renewed

**DISCLAIMER**

I own _SEED Destiny_...

Yeah, right. I wish. I don't own this, it's just a fanfic...I don't know who owns this. Whoever does, this is how certain events in SEED Destiny would have turned out if I did own it. But I really don't own this.

Here's the next Chapter, and IMHO THE most significant departure thus far except for Ph02. It parallels Ph39 of the series, but...it's different, and yet kinda the same.

* * *

**Phase 06: Freedom Renewed**** (Parallels Phase 39)**

"And what the hell were you up to in there?" The pilot mutters to himself, as the shuttle he'd tracked to Mendel finally left, heading towards a very large asteroid field.

He then moves his mobile suit, a ZGMF-LRR704B GINN Long-Range Recon Type, and quietly follows the shuttle, reporting back to its mother ship.  
"Stupid careless sonuvabitch. Should've been more careful." the pilot mutters as the shuttle disappears beneath a large, elongated asteroid. A careful visual inspection of the "asteroid" reveals a salmon-pink and white blot sticking out the top, unmistakable.  
"_Holst_, this is Recon. I've found the _Eternal_."

"Typically, Jibril left before the battle started. We've rounded up all the others." Rey said matter-of-factly. Lunamaria, who did extremely well, looks disappointed. Shinn looks furious.  
-"We'll find him...and when we do, I'll destroy him." He says. His grip on the half-empty soda can he holds in his left hand tightens, and soda sprays out the top as he nearly crushes the thin aluminium container.

Operation Ragnarok had been an overwhelming success, despite Logos using a powerful anti-air cannon, the Nibelung, to destroy the space-dropped reinforcements, and fielding five more of those gigantic transforming models. Gil had called them "Destroy Gundams"...an appropriate name, Rey thought.  
As he thought about it, and about Shinn's reaction to the mere sight of the things, Rey couldn't help but feel a tinge of fear. "Remind me to never, EVER get Shinn pissed off at me." Rey had muttered to nobody in particular, at the time.

"So, then. We have no idea where Jibril fled to?" Captain Talia Gladys asked the Chairman.  
-"No, Talia, we do not. He left without informing anyone, by submarine. It's the only way he could've slipped past the assault fleets."

Captain Gladys looked thoughtful for a moment. "I agree," she said. "An aircraft would've been shot down almost immediately. But where…"  
-"There's not many possibilities, but we can't move until we're sure."

Meanwhile, Jibril, the leader of Blue Cosmos, was staring out a window as his aircraft landed in Orb, wondering how the hell that bastard Durandal had managed to gut his organization so thoroughly.

Apparently irritated, the blonde-haired Neo Roanoke turned the TV screen off. He'd been watching news reports - Heaven's Base, despite stiff resistance, had been captured. The members of Logos had been arrested, but according to the report, Jibril, the leader, remained "at large."  
"I feel like dying." The blue-haired kid who'd recently come in. He'd just recently awoken, and he'd been moaning and complaining pretty much non-stop since. The brown-haired one, who'd gone up against the Impulse's pilot...Shinn, was it? He wasn't sure...still hadn't stirred, though according to the doctor, he was recovering well.

"Don't say things like that." Little blonde girl, Cagalli. In and out of the infirmary all the time. Neo didn't really care.  
"What about Meyrin? How is she?"  
-"Much better off than you, at any rate. Her left leg was broken, but otherwise nothing really bad, except for a mild fever"  
-"That's...good." Athrun winced. "I really...didn't want her to get involved"  
-"That's a stupid thing to say, kid. It was her decision to get involved, right?" Neo called out. Athrun cringed - he was right. Meyrin had decided to get involved herself.  
-"Athrun...Can you forgive me?"  
-"For what? You were...trying to protect Orb...right? Every day, and me... couldn't do anything"  
-"I wonder...is there nothing we can do to end this war?"  
-"Don't say that. Kira?"  
-"Still nothing." Athrun sighed. Had his best friend's injuries been that serious?(AN: Heck yeah, and then some. He's going to be bedridden at least until Operation Fury)

"The colony as a whole was a complete mess, except one of the laboratories." Martin DaCosta reported to Andrew Waltfeld, his commanding officer. Technically, Lacus Clyne was in charge, but DaCosta still reported to Andy Waltfeld, as he had done, and would continue to do.  
-"Anything useful, DaCosta?"  
-"The computers were all trashed. Nothing left except this journal. It mentions Durandal, and something called "Destiny Plan". No details.  
-"Wha...hello." Andy suddenly looked at his display.  
-"What is it, Commander Waltfeld?" Lacus Clyne asked. One of those irritating little robots passed in front of Andy, who swatted it away.  
-"We've lost one of our surveillance cameras...Out here, the only thing it could be is a ZAFT Recon unit. Probably a GINN LRRT"  
-"What do you suggest we do? If it's here, its mothership is doubtless nearby"  
-"Right, and anyway the DOMs aren't finished. the only MS we've got are those two."

Lacus thought about it for a moment, then said "We will launch the _Eternal_"  
-"But Miss Lacus, the _Eternal_ has very little firepower. Launching now would be equivalent to suicide." DaCosta intervened.  
-"He's right. That GINN means there's at least a Nazca or a Laurasia really close. And while a Laurasia would be really bad news, the Nazca's about as fast as we are, and still packing pretty heavy artillery."  
-"At least we can drop the two MS in a reentry capsule"  
The Eternal launched, and the camouflage fell away. In its holds, the three incomplete DOM Troopers, prototype mass-production machines stolen from ZAFT and upgraded. With them, two other machines, and Terminal's last hope in this war.  
Then, the _Holst_, the _Caernarfon_, and the _Mendeleev_, three Nazca-class destroyers, attacked, launching their complements of ZGMF-1000 ZAKUs and ZGMF-2000 GOUFs.

"Captain! Lacus reports the _Eternal_ is under attack." Miriallia was sitting at the CIC when the message came in. "Three ships, unknown number of mobile suits - ZAKUs and those new blue ones."  
-"What?"  
-"She says that if necessary, they'll drop the reentry pods."  
Suddenly, a communication from the infirmary - it was Mu. No, Neo. Murrue was still unable to believe that man wasn't Mu LaFlaga.  
-"Hey, you guys want to do something? That brown-haired kid's awake, yammering about Lacus something or another. Says if she fails, it'll all be over." he chuckled at that.  
-"I see you remembered the number to dial the bridge." Murrue said. the man shrugged, and cut the link.  
-"What's the big deal? these codes are standardized, aren't they?" Neo muttered.  
-"Thank you...Mu." Kira said, difficultly.  
-"Oh for crying out loud, not you too, kid? My name is Neo Roanoke. Jeez, how many times am I gonna have to repeat that?..."

"Miss Clyne, the situation's getting pretty desperate. The ship captains are smart, they're staying back and letting their MS do the work. I think we need to do something, or else those guys'll pick off the pods on the way down. I'm launching."  
Andy was out the door and into the hangar before either Lacus or DaCosta could answer.  
"Hope the youngster doesn't mind my borrowing his new toy..."Andy laughs to himself.

The "toy" was a tall Mobile Suit based on the old Freedom, but bulkier. It held a beam rifle in each hand, and had the waist-mounted railguns of its predecessor, but no physical shield - it used "Solidus Fulgor" beam shields, a technology developed by ZAFT, presumably based on the Eurasian lightwave barrier. While it lacked the twin plasma cannons of the original, its reactor, one of the new hyper-deuterion reactors that didn't require an N-Jammer Canceller, had been repositioned to make room in the torso for a single multiphase beam cannon.

Originally a prototype mass-produced version of the Freedom, it had been stolen early in its development and upgraded by Terminal.  
The most important of these upgrades was a set of eight DRAGOON Units, each mounting a 45mm beam assault cannon. Its mobility were also improved by equipping the joints of its internal frame with Phase-Shift, and combat data from the kid piloting the Freedom had been incorporated. Andy, now wearing his old orange-and-black ZAFT normal suit, but with an Orb helmet painted to match, climbed up the lift and into the cockpit.

**MOBILE SUIT NEO OPERATION SYSTEM **

**Generation **

**Unsubdued **

**Nuclear **

**Drive **

**Assault **

**Module **

**G.U.N.D.A.M. Complex **

**Series SD100-O9 SF 01/34152 **

**Z.A.F.T. **

"Okay, this is Andy Waltfeld. Strike Freedom, Goin' out!

Andy activated the Freedom's Variable Phase-Shift Armor. Two of the enemy blue MS fired off whips, which curled around his forearm and leg, but he dispatched the first with the Balaena, the second with a rifle shot.  
He then took the time to dock the second rifle and fired off the DRAGOONs, dispatching another five GOUFs using the DRAGOON - another bit of new tech stolen from ZAFT, Andy chuckled. This particular DRAGOON System was more computer-directed, making it much simpler to use.  
Recalling the eight remote weapons, he then closed in to melee range.  
He engaged one GOUF, hacking off both its arms before firing over his shoulder, without looking. A bright flash told him he'd hit the ZAKU that his sensors had warned him was trying to sneak up on him.

The next one to attack managed to squeeze off a shot - one of those big antiship cannons, and sure enough, aimed at the Eternal. Andy slid in the way, and the beam shields blocked the shot, before his own shots sent the ZAKU's head and left arm flying.  
Next was another of those blue bastards, and three more ZAKUs.  
"Okay, getting kinda crowded, there." Andy joked as he fired off the DRAGOONs again, then at the same time hacked open a couple of ZAKUs that were trying to attack him at melee. One of them did manage to damage the Freedom's upper left arm.  
"Well, shit. I borrow the kid's toy and look what happens."

The DRAGOON took out three more. "Eight of those blue sonsabitches and four ZAKUs left. Funny, I could've sworn there were more...Oh well." Andy dodged quite effortlessly as the ZAKUs fired two of those big antiship guns and two volleys of missiles. A good half-dozen missiles did hit, but Andy ignored that - they were small, anti-MS missiles, maybe half the size of the ones a BuCue could carry. The thought saddened Andy somewhat. "Whoops. No time to travel Memory Lane - I got twelve of these guys to...well, eleven to deal with. No, ten." Andy told himself as he shot the waist of one of the Gunner ZAKUs as the sneaky fucker tried to attack him from the side, then nailed the one with the missile launchers, also in the waist. Two more, plus the GOUFs...or not.  
The remaining MS retreated, and the ships fled.

Onboard, the Captain was still shocked. "Unbelievable...twenty-one mobile suits in two and a half minutes...who the hell was that?..."

As Andy got back to the Eternal, Lacus and Martin were there to meet him. On the way down, he saw that the other forearm had several burn marks from stray beam gunfire, as did the left ankle.  
-"Sorry, ma'am. Youngster's new toy got a bit banged up"  
-"How did it handle, Commander Waltfeld?"  
-"Well, but I definitely prefer ground combat. My LaGowe was a lot more fun to play with." Again, a sharp pang. The mere mention of the LaGowe brought back memories.  
-"Well, we will need to repair the Freedom before we launch it."  
The mechanical personnel set about doing just that.

Two days later, with no sign of ZAFT anywhere, the reentry capsule carrying the three now-complete DOMs, their pilots, as well as Lacus and the new Gundams, was launched.They would rendez-vous with the Archangel just within Orb territorial waters two and a half hours later.


	7. 40: Awakening

**DISCLAIMER**

I own _SEED Destiny_...

Yeah, right. I wish. I don't own this, it's just a fanfic...I don't know who owns this. Whoever does, this is how certain events in SEED Destiny would have turned out if I did own it. But I really don't own this.

* * *

**Phase 07: Awakening Fury (Parallels the first half of Ph40)**

In the midst of his nightmares, Shinn felt a pressure on his shoulder and he sat awake with a cry.  
Rey Za Burrel had his hand on his friend's shoulder.  
-"You were dreaming about her again?" He asked, and handed Shinn some water, which he drank greedily.  
-"Yeah. Nightmares. About Athrun, too, and Meyrin."  
-"Don't think about it."  
-"Rey, I..." Rey tossed Shinn a towel. As he pulled the towel off his head and wiped the sweat off his face and hair, Rey stated "Remember, Shinn, they were traitors. They betrayed us, we had no choice. I'm sorry."  
-"Sorry for what."  
-"I should've shot them down myself instead of making you do it. I was stupid...You're too kind, Shinn. That's why you feel bad."

-"Rey. It's just that…"  
-"That is a weakness." he said coldly. "With that, you won't be able to protect anything." His tone softened, and he added "You should try and get some sleep."

The next morning, Shinn, Talia, and Rey were awarded the Order of the Nebula for their actions in Operations Angel Down and Ragnarok, to applause from the other officers present. "Shinn, Rey." he said, "I also would like you to have these." He handed each of them a small white box. Inside each, nestled in wine-red velvet, was the most coveted decoration in all of ZAFT, even more than the prestigious Order of the Nebula: A silver wing, flowing from a golden ellipse.  
-"FAITH..." Shinn whispered.  
-"Thank you so much, G...Chairman Durandal!" Rey said, beaming. the Chairman smiled.

Later, Talia and he alone remained in the luxurious office.  
-"I believe you have something to say regarding my decision, Talia."  
-"I do, Mr. Chairman, but because I believe you don't intend to listen to them regardless, I will keep them to myself."  
-"Talia, please. Tell me what's on your mind." He looked at her. GOD, she hated it when he did that. They'd been lovers once, a very long time ago. But she had wanted children, and he hadn't been ready for that kind of commitment. But here he was now, and he treated those Rey and Shinn like they were his own sons. Lord knew those boys needed someone to look up to, but still...She opened her mouth to say something, but the door swung open with a bang, and a timid-looking ensign stepped inside.  
-"Sir, it's regarding Jibril. They've found him, sir."  
-"Where is he?"  
-"In Orb, sir." Outside, Shinn Asuka hears the ensign's words. Clenching his fist, he storms off, much to the surprise of Rey and Luna.

Later, Durandal and Talia sat in with his senior officers, and a few high-ranking Earth Alliance officers.  
"My main concern is that Jibril should escape to space. Because if that happens, and the Orb Space Fleet links up with the Atlantic Federation's Forces on the Moon, they may once again try for a direct attack on PLANT."  
-"If I may, Chairman Durandal," said one of the Earth Alliance officers, "We have more than enough forces for a complete blockade of Onogoro Island."  
-"That's right, Admiral Mulligan. We do. Talia?"  
-"Yes?"  
-"I want you and the Minerva to lead this attack. You, and Captain Mulligan's carrier will serve as the flagships."  
-"Of course."

"Athrun, are you all right?" Meyrin stepped gingerly into the infirmary. Athrun tried to shift to sit up.  
-"Hey, hey! Quit squirming, kid, or those wounds'll never heal." Neo said.  
-"How are you?" Athrun asked Meyrin. He cringed at another sharp pain in his side.  
-"I'm fine...Chief Murdoch says we're going to need two more days at least for repairs. Captain Ramius isn't pleased."  
-"What about Kira?"  
-"He's not doing nearly as well, but he's walking on crutches, for short periods of time, a couple of times a day. Your leg wound still needs to heal, Athrun."

Meanwhile, on the Bridge, Cagalli stood by as Ledonir Kisaka contacted her over a video-link.  
"Lady Cagalli. The Seirans are confirmed by Intelligence Service to be hiding Jibril here in Orb"  
-"They're WHAAT!" She bellowed, before looking frantically around. _I need to kick something.,_ she thought. She found nothing.  
-"Miss Cagalli, if I may," interrupted Amagi, "I would recommend you not do anything rash"  
-"Amagi's right. You need to calm down, Cagalli." Kisaka said, sounding paternal again.  
-"If I know that idiot Yuna, He'll try to squirm his way out of this. If we don't hand him over, ZAFT will…"  
-"Cagalli…they're already here. The Alliance Fleets, about sixty ships strong. ZAFT's twenty-odd Vosgolovs…and the _Minerva_. They've surrounded Onogoro.  
"SHIT!"

-"Anything from Orb, Ensign Hathaway?"  
-"Negative, sir. We're waiting on the Seirans to issue a statement.  
-"The Seirans?" Chairman Gilbert Durandal asked the young officer.  
-"Representative Athha went missing some time ago, sir. Yuna Roma Seiran was her fiancé. He's currently acting Head Representative"  
-"The Princess went missing? That's interesting...Stray cub, hmm?" Durandal smiled.  
-"Absolutely, sir." Ensign Hathaway caught the reference. Uzumi Nara Athha had, after all, been the Lion of Orb. "Hold on, sir, we're getting something…Press release, sir! It's over the public nets."  
-"Put it through."

On the screen appeared a thin, pale man in a ludicrously elaborate uniform. He was pale, with small, deep-set eyes, a weak chin, and he kept his flamboyantly violet hair tied in an effeminate ponytail.  
-"What a pompous fop." Hathaway deadpanned.  
-"I agree." The Chairman nodded, deep in thought. The man on the screen, in front of the green backdrop bearing the crest of Orb, was weak and foolish. A perfect puppet, for someone clever enough to use him. And from what Matias had told him, Jibril was that clever.  
-"Ahem…This statement goes out not only to the People of Orb, but also to Chairman Durandal of the PLANTs, and his military. You have made ludicrous demands that we turn over a Lord Jibril, alleged leader of Blue Cosmos and Logos, to be tried for crimes against the people of the PLANTs, or face military reprisals. I tell you, as well as the Fleets you sent against us with intention to invade, in an inexcusable affront to Orb's sovereignty, We do not know this man. We do not have him in our nation. Leave our waters in peace, Chairman…" The screen went dead, and Ensign Hathaway turned to face the Chairman. His face was grim, his jaw set, his thin lips rendered even thinner. The expression was one of cold fury.  
"That is absolutely ludicrous! Ensign?"  
-"Yes, Mr. Chairman?"  
-"Begin the Operation immediately. If they refuse to give him to us, we will take him by force."  
-"Yes, sir!" Turning to his console, he contacted the fleet. "This is Military Command Gibraltar. Release order issued: Fury is go! I repeat: Operation Fury is go! Drag that scumbag outta there"  
In his seat, Durandal allowed himself a thin smile. Though he had been expecting a world-class stall job, this foppish buffoon had instead given him exactly the answer he wanted: Nowhere in ZAFT's ultimatum had there been any mention of Blue Cosmos…

"That little twit! That brainless…" Unato Ema Seiran, a short, porcine man who hid his tiny little pig's eyes behind slender orange-tinted glasses, was currently beside himself with rage. Sprawled lazily in a recliner was a man wearing a pastel-yellow tunic, a black cat on his lap, and a smug expression on his face. Sipping at a glass of wine, Jibril positively oozed self-satisfied arrogance. They were looking at the wide-screen television in the living room of the Seirans' private mansion.  
"Unato Ema, my friend, calm down, please. You're upsetting the cat."  
-"Calm down? Because of that little moron, those Coordinator bastards are going to raze this nation to the ground to find you!"  
-"Are you afraid, Seiran?" Rondo Mina Sahaku sat across from them, her long legs crossed and her expression absolutely buoyant.  
-"Yes, I am. When they find us here…"  
-"Unato, they are not going to find us!" Jibril interjected. "By the time they get past the defense line, we will be long gone…" Scoffing, Mina stood and left.  
-"Gentlemen, I bid you adieu." She said. "Idiots." She added once she was outside. Jibril was definitely as stupid as Azrael had been – neither of them intelligent enough to know a Coordinator when one looked them in the eye…literally. She stepped outside, and walked up to a tall, sinister-looking black mobile suit. She used the lift-cable to reach the cockpit, which closed behind her. A moment later, the machine's eyes flared, and then it vanished, just as its demonic, curved wings spread outwards.

"Besides," Jibril continued inside the expansive living room, "This game isn't over by a long shot…I have a final requiem for Durandal and his race of freak-shows. And I'm going to play it from right in their own back yard…"

**AN:** Yes, I had to stick Rondo Mina Sahaku in there. She kicks ass. Besides, she let Kaite borrow the friggin' Gold Frame. That alone makes her cool. And yes, Jibril made a pun.


	8. 40: The Battle for Orb, part 1

**DISCLAIMER**

I own _SEED Destiny_...

Yeah, right. I wish. I don't own this, it's just a fanfic...I don't know who owns this. Whoever does, this is how certain events in _SEED Destiny_ would have turned out if I did own it. But I really don't own this.

* * *

**Phase 08: The Battle for Orb, Part 1 (Parallels the second half of Ph40)**

In the pilot's ready room adjacent to the hangar, Rey Za Burrel and Lunamaria Hawke sat down, awaiting the order to launch. Rey looked into the hangar, where he saw a row of new ZGMF-2000 GOUF Igniteds, which completed the Minerva's complement of Mobile Suits. Along with them of course were Shinn's and his Gundams, as well as the Impulse, now piloted by Lunamaria. The GOUF pilots, three of them Reds, were standing by in their machines. Rey glanced over at Shinn, who stood by the large data screen.

Shinn was reviewing the data from the battlefield on the display. It was quite a force, and the main island of Onogoro was surrounded. Six Federation Carrier Battle Groups, each composed of two Spengler-class carriers and six Danilov-class Destroyers. These were accompanied by twenty-six Vosgolov-class, and a pair of Lesseps-class ships that held additional landing troops. At the forefront were the two flagships, the LHM-BB01 Minerva, and to her port-side, the CV-133R John Paul Jones, the carrier that, Shinn knew, had so relentlessly pursued the Minerva in the early stages of the war. He focused for a moment on the carrier.

You walked that deck, didn't you? Shinn asked silently, thinking, as he so often did, of Stella. He snapped out of his reverie and closed the display as, over the PA, came the long-awaited order. "This is Military Command Gibraltar. Release order issued: Fury is go! I repeat: Operation Fury is go! Drag that scumbag outta there"

The result was immediate: The Waltfeld and the Rommel moved forward, as the Earth Alliance carriers released their Mobile Suits: The GAT-333 Raider Full-Specs and GAT-707E Forbidden Vortex were prominent, but most of the assault forces consisted of small teams of GAT-02L2 Jet Dagger-Ls, always led by GAT-01A2E2 Slaughter Daggers, or of GAT-04 Windams. But only a third of the enormous force launched – the rest stood by, waiting for the order.

Meanwhile, the other ZAFT ships released their Mobile Suits: The brand-new UMF/SSO-3 ASH and AMA-953 BABIs, as well as the equally new GOUF, and of course the odd DINN, GOOHN, and a large number of ZAKUs, using Guul subflight lifters. Again though, most of the force was held back, and only the first of three assault waves launched.

"Captain Ramius, ZAFT has begun its attack." Miriallia Haww called out from the CIC station of the LCAM-X01A Archangel. There's no response at all from Orb."

-"They haven't ordered an evacuation yet?"

-"No, ma'am. Nothing."

-"I'm taking the SkyGrasper!" Cagalli suddenly said, and turned to leave.

-"No." Murrue Ramius retorted angrily at the ridiculous statement. "That is absolutely out of the question."

-"But…There's no way I can just sit around and wait while my country burns!"

-"In that case," said a woman, behind them, "Why don't you come with me?" Heads turned on the bridge – Morgenroete engineer Erica Simmons, the woman not only responsible for Orb's original Astray Program, which yielded the MBF-M1s and M1As, but the designer of the new Murasame as well, stood in the door frame. Behind her, looking perfectly at home in his two-tone blue Orb military uniform, was the towering Ledonir Kisaka.

Reluctantly, the young Chief Representative of Orb followed the other two as they left the Archangel.

"Why are ZAFT attacking?" Yuuna Roma Seiran asked nobody in particular, as he stood in the Military Headquarters of Orb. Next to him, Captain Soga looked askance at the purple-haired self-proclaimed Representative.

-"They're attacking because they know you were lying, and that Jibril is here in Orb, sir."

-"Then what're you waiting for? Attack! Drive them away!"

The Orb Defense Forces, primarily composed of MBF-M1s and several squadrons of Murasame, deployed against the first wave of ZAFT Mobile Suits, and the battle began. Though the Murasame was a superior machine to the BABI, the more experienced ZAFT pilots managed extremely well, and the Defense Force was being beaten back.

A formation of Kuraokami- and Aegis-class ships moved forward to attack, and for a while the Earth Alliance ships moved backwards somewhat under a hail of missile fire.

But rapidly, the ships began exploding, apparently for no reason. And over the communication link, one voice commented over an open frequency, so that all present, ZAFT, Alliance and Orb alike, could hear:

"Ain't it funny how, for an Island nation, Orb has yet to develop a single amphibious mobile suit?" The signal came from a Forbidden Vortex as it leaped onto the deck of a crippled Kuraokami. He drove his machine's trident into the superstructure, tearing apart the sinking ship's bridge and impaling three officers, before diving back into the water.

In the cockpit of his BABI, Lieutenant Holland chuckled at the Earth Alliance pilot's humor as his team moved swiftly towards the Residence of Unato Ema Seiran. From far away, he thought he saw a single black mobile suit, but he blinked and it was gone. Holland shook his head. "All right boys, let's light 'em up!"

Each in turn, the six mobile suits launched a complete missile barrage at the sprawling mansion. The whole complex collapsed, but one of his pilots spoke up.

"Lieutenant, we got a limo leaving the complex, permission to attack."

-"Go get 'em, rookie. You saw 'em, they're your kill." The BABI swooped low, leveling with the vehicle and switching to mobile suit mode, then fired its torso-mounted multiphase beam cannon.

In a searing flash of light, Unato Ema Seiran was obliterated, along with half of his fellow LOGOS members in Orb, as the limousine was vaporized.

"Way to go, kid. Now form up and let's hit the spaceport."

-"Yes, sir!"

Suddenly, the BABIs were intercepted by a team of Murasame, one of them yellow, and a golden new model.

In the cockpit of the ORB-01 Akatsuki, Cagalli Yula Athha targeted the first enemy MS, destroying it with its beam rifle, while the six Murasames engaged the others. Two of the Murasame went down in minutes, and two of the brown ZAFT models attacked, firing chest-mounted beam cannons.

A red light in the cockpit flashed amber, as the "Yata-no-Kagami" Anti-beam armor reflected the beams away harmlessly, and a beam rifle shot took out each one.

Meanwhile, a team of ZAKUs that was moving in on the spaceport found themselves intercepted by three black-and-purple mobile suits, their cross-shaped main-cameras trimmed with red.

"What the hell? Those look like DOMs!!" A former test-pilot enlisted in active duty, Stavros Xylander had seen the prorotype ZGMF-XX09Ts, though like his peers he'd preferred the ZAKU. Two of his comrades were obliterated by the three-pronged, high-speed attack, and he called for backup.

As the leader aimed its Gigaplex on his ZAKU, a triple-barrage of beam cannonfire nearly took off the DOM's headand left arm, though a beam shield barely managed to activate in time.

Across the piazza, a team of jet-black, three-headed monstrosities moved in at high-speed on the DOM. In urban combat, the DOM would've had the advantage, but the spaceport was secluded, the main city far behind.

"Kerberos…" The old ZAKU pilot muttered, slipping into his native Greek as he recognized the mythical hellhound mirrored by the brand-new TMF/A-802W2 Kerberos BuCUEs. Three-on-three, the Battle began, and old Stavros used the opportunity to advance towards the spaceport.

Shinn Asuka seethed inwardly. The attacking force was being slowly forced back in one place, nearest to Onogoro. As he reviewed data from the various ships in the area, he saw a split-second view of a BABI firing its chest cannon, which was harmlessly reflected, before the golden command model it was aiming at destroyed it using two beam cannons of its own. "Reflective armor. Bastard."

Over the PA came the announcement.

"Second Wave is ready to go. Pilots to your machines immediately." Rey looked up.

"All three of us don't need to launch. I'll go."

-"No. I'm going." Shinn retorted. His comrade insisted, and Lunamaria protested. "I said I'm going! Destiny's faster and more agile than either of your machines, and besides, Legend's DRAGOON System is almost useless on Earth."

-"Shinn!" Lunamaria looked outraged. Rey looked at Shinn, hard, and then smiled.

-"You have a point. All right, I'll approve it. Captain Gladys, there's been a change of plans. Shinn will be launching first."

-"Why?"

-"He specifically requested it, using his authority as a member of FAITH. As a FAITH Agent myself, I approved it. If you wish to countermand, you may." Rey added, deferring to the ship's CO, a member of FAITH herself and the ranking officer on board.

-"No, I'll authorize it as well."

The Destiny launched, immediately coming under attack by a group of Murasame, which Shinn blasted apart using his machine's back-mounted cannons and Palm beam cannons. Then, drawing a bead on the golden new unit, he headed straight for it.

Cagalli and her escort of Murasames continued repelling the attacking ZAFT and Earth Alliance MS. She'd received a report that, while the two Lesseps-class had been sunk, their MS had launched. Moments later, however, the forces at the docks were overwhelmed – there'd been three GaZuOT tanks and six new BuCUEs in each ship, and the Astrays had been annihilated by the far faster quadrupeds.

Five minutes later, Hilda Harken's team, who'd joined the Archangel when Lacus came to Earth, reported they were engaged in combat with three "three-headed BuCUEs".

She opened a communication to Military Defense Headquarters. "Orb Military HQ, this is ORB-01 Akatsuki, Cagalli Yula Athha piloting."

-"CAGALLI!! Oh, sweetheart I was so worried. I couldn't…"

-"Yuna Roma Seiran."

-"Yes, darling?"

-"Do you recognize that I, Cagalli Yula Athha, am the true Head Representative of the United Emirates of Orb?" She asked, using her nation's formal name.

-"Yes, sweetheart, anything. I was worried sick over you, darling, every day I…"

-"Captain Soga! Yuna Roma Seiran is to be placed under immediate arrest, under charges of high treason and consorting with terrorists."

-"WHA…?"

-"Yes, ma'am!"

Captain Soga, once the comlink was cut, faced Yuna. "Sir, you're hereby under arrest for high treason, and consorting with terrorists."

-"Wha...? Why you little…" Soga punched Yuna Roma Seiran in the face. As he turned to flee.

-"RESTRAIN HIM!" Instantly, Yuna was tackled by the nearest six officers, who proceeded to manhandle him into a chair. Moments hater, he was cuffed to the chair.

Meanwhile, Cagalli came under attack by a team of GOUF Ignited, but the Yata no Kagami blocked their cannonfire. She just dodged a heat whip, and two of the Murasame engaged. Two enemy machines went down. Suddenly, twin bursts of beam cannonfire, from above and behind, obliterated both. Cagalli and Kisaka turned, and she saw a new Gundam, red wings spread and thrusters engaged, docking two back-mounted cannons.

She took aim with her beam rifle, but a diamond-shaped beam shield sprang into life, blocking the shots and disappearing.

She moved in on the enemy MS, firing again, but once again, he blocked with his beam shield. The two cannons on the machine's back fired, but the Yata-no-Kagami deflected both shots, and Cagalli retaliated with her own, which the enemy blocked by igniting both beam shields together in front of him.

A Team of Murasames tried to attack, but the enemy dodged, obliterating one of them before drawing the massive sword from his backpack and hacking the others apart. He then drew a second weapon and threw it.

Cagalli moved the shield to block, but she was too slow, and the boomerang took off the Akatsuki's left forearm. The enemy pilot caught the weapon as it returned, and docked it.

"Is that you in there, Athha?" The pilot spoke over a comlink. The voice was cold, filled with an intense hatred, but she recognized it – the young Gundam pilot Shinn Asuka, from the _Minerva_. The new machine charged with its sword, and Cagalli met the assault with her beam saber, held in the Akatsuki's right hand.

"Is that all you got? What're you doing in that machine, if you can't even pilot it?!!" Shinn shoved the Akatsuki away, then hacked off the right arm just above the wrist.

Cagalli, now basically weaponless, drew back. As Shinn suddenly prepared to deliver a killing blow, another saber blocked it.

This saber belonged to another new model, pink-and-black, trimmed with white and with a large, violet thruster pack…the Justice. But this one was slightly different – it was improved, Cagalli could see.

Onboard the Minerva, the consternation was evident. The Justice was supposed to have been destroyed at Jachin Due, yet here it was, and upgraded to boot!

"Shinn! Stop this!" The voice was Athrun Zala's!

-"So, you survived, did you." In his cockpit, Shinn sneered. And he prepared to attack the new Justice Gundam.


	9. 42: The Battle for Orb, part 2

Yes, after an ages-long hiatus, I have at last returned to the wonderful world of fanfiction-writing. I first want to thank everyone for helping me with this by reviewing. I appreciate it.

**A few notes before beginning:**

**AN01: **The Master Grade ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom _FBM_ manual states that the SF was originally planned as an upgraded version of the original Freedom, slated for mass-production. Its maiden flight was at the approximate time of the _Armory One Incident_ depicted in Phases One and Two of _SEED Destiny_, and it was later stolen by Terminal. In my fic, I go a step further and apply this backstory to both the S-Freedom and I-Justice. **AN02:** Originally, the Strike Freedom was called "Super Freedom", and the I-J was "Knight Justice". Incidentally, this is the reason the S-F's remote weapons are called "Super DRAGOON" – their name was not changed when the machine's was. In this fic, I use the original names as the names originally given by ZAFT to the machines, with their renaming occurring after their theft. **AN03:** The S-F and I-J use hyper-deuterion nuclear reactors. For that reason, I had ZAFT plan them originally as S-series machines like the Legend and Destiny – again, the change in designation occurred after the theft.

**DISCLAIMER**

I own _SEED Destiny_...

Yeah, right. I wish. I don't own this, it's just a fanfic...I don't know who owns this. Whoever does, this is how certain events in _SEED Destiny_ would have turned out if I did own it. But I really don't own this. Except for Johann Achtritter and the Dark Wolves.

* * *

**Phase 09: The Battle for Orb, part 2**** (Phase 40/42)**

"So you survived, did you." In the cockpit of his mobile suit, Shinn Asuka sneered as he contemplated the sight of the new Gundam he saw before him – an upgraded version of ZAFT's own ZGMF-X09A Justice Gundam, fielded during the previous war and destroyed at Jachin Due. He docked the unwieldy Arondight beam sword and reached for one of his "Flash Edge II" beam boomerangs, igniting it as a beam saber.

Meanwhile, at ZAFT's Gibraltar base, Chairman Gilbert Durandal shook his head.

"So then, this is the path you've chosen, Athrun Zala…" He'd read the reports, the files Chairman Patrick Zala had left behind – shortly after the theft of the completed X10A Freedom Gundam and even as its brother unit, the X09A Justice Gundam was rolled out, plans had already been underway to field a mass-produced version of both machines, with upgraded armaments.

But the incomplete prototypes had been stolen early in their development – the base units were complete, but they'd yet to have the finalized G.U.N.D.A.M. Operation Systems installed. Now, it became apparent that Lacus Clyne and her ilk, who were responsible for the theft of three ZGMF-XX09T DOM Troopers, had also orchestrated the theft of the incomplete X19S Knight Justice and X20S Super Freedom, as they'd been originally named.

"Very well then…"

"What in the hell?" Hilda Harken tried out as she and her three teammates barely dodged a coordinated assault from their attackers, a team of three TMF/A-802 BuCUEs. But these particular BuCUEs were unlike anything she'd ever seen before – jet-black, impossibly sleek, and rearing not one, but three sinister-looking heads, two of which mounted a beam cannon in the "mouth" and a forward-facing beam saber atop the head.

The three demonic-looking BuCUEs scattered as she, Mars Simeon, and Herbert von Reinhardt returned fire with their Gigaplex launchers, then turned around and resumed the assault.

Arranging themselves in a single line, the three DOMs simultaneously activated their "Screaming Nimbus" scattering beam guns and charged forward, firing their armament at the three BuCUEs.

But the enemy machines slipped sideways out of the line of fire and passed by, the trailing machine snapping its leftmost head sideways, a lateral beam blade slamming into the leg of Mars's machine, causing it to explode.

-"DAMN IT!!!"

-"Mars, NO!" Hilda screamed. The other two DOMs arranged themselves protectively around their fallen comrade, as the three BuCUEs stopped, their eyes glaring evilly. "Mars, are you all right?"

-"Yeah, I'm fine…but I guess I'm gonna be goin' anywhere."

-"Kid, didn't anyone teach you what _FINE_ stands for?" came an unknown voice, gruff and decidedly amused. Obviously, the voice came from one of the three BuCUEs – there was no one else anywhere within several kilometers.

-"Freaked out," came a second, younger man's voice.

-"Insecure," said a third, this one obviously a woman.

-"Neurotic," added the older man."

-"And Emotional." Hilda finished almost mechanically, without thinking. (**AN:** Gotta love that line. _The Italian Job_ was an awesome movie)

-"It's been a damned long time, hasn't it Hilda?" answered the old man. "And now I find you here of all places…Fighting against your own comrades. I gotta say, I'm disappointed."

-"Johann, you bastard."

-"Hilda, who the hell is this guy?" asked Mars, obviously surprised.

-"His name's Johann Achtritter. An old acquaintance of mine. He's a BuCUE pilot who used to serve in ZAFT's desert combat battalions under Andrew Waltfeld."

-"Except that now that old Andy's gone off with Lacus Clyne, I'm the one in command of our BuCUEs."

-"You forgot to mention," said the woman, "that Johann was one of the original two test pilots of the ZGMF-X999A ZAKU MPT, just as you and your teammates piloted the original DOM Trooper."

-"Watch your back, Herbert. Johann's the leader of the Dark Wolves Squadron." Herbert reacted with a fiar degree of surprise – since the disappearance of the Desert Tiger from the African battlefields, the team known as the "Dark Wolves" had made a name for themselves as three of the best BuCUE pilots ZAFT had to offer.

As they stood there, Mars suddenly managed to shift his machine and fire off a bazooka round. The three enemy machines scattered, and Johann Achtritter's machine retaliated with a four-shot salvo that obliterated the Gigaplex, causing severe damage to the DOM's arm as well.

-"In urban warfare, the XX09T is unsurpassed in its capabilities. However, on open terrain, its significant bulk makes it a prime target for more agile machines, such as the high-speed TMF/A-802 BuCUE." Johann recited – quoting from the final report of the "ZAFT New Millenium" project, which had stated once and for all that the less expensive ZAKU was an equally versatile and more readily mass-producible MS than the faster but far bulkier and more costly DOM. "The TMF/A-802-W2 Kerberos BuCUE Hound takes everything that made the BuCUE such a deadly machine, and expands it, dramatically increasing its close-range hit-and-run attack capabilities and augmenting its firepower."

And the three machines charged once again.

Shinn's Arondight beam sword clashed with the blade of Athrun's beam saber, as the two engaged in an intense, close-range duel.

-"Shinn! Why are you attacking Orb? How is that going to help bring about an end to this war?"

Shinn backs off, and once again aims a slash at the Justice, which parries with its saber.

-"ARE YOU STUPID? Orb is protecting the leader of Blue Cosmos! That's why we're here!" Shinn prepares to attack once again, aiming low and to the side. But a beam blade ignites on the Justice's leg and Athrun kicks away the blade, before bringing his saber down in a wide arc. Shinn barely moves away in time, and Athrun's blade slices off the entire front quarter of his forearm-mounted shield and cuts into the entire length of the Flash Edge II's handle, causing the weapon to explode.

-"Aw, SHIT!" Shinn swears, jettisoning the shield and now-useless weapon. Boosting away from the Justice, outside its range, he undocks his rifle, then locks on and fires, aiming a shot at the Justice's upper torso. It blocks the shot with a beam shield, and then Athrun draws his rifle and fires as well. Using the Destiny's powerful "Wings of Light", Shinn easily sidesteps the enemy fire, retaliating with his beam cannon.

-"This is wrong! You're fighting without knowing the reason for it – How will that solve anything?"  
-"Shut up! As if a two-timing slime like you would know ANYTHING about me!" As the Justice attempts to close into melee-range, Shinn boosts over it and fires both his Gundam's beam cannons from above and behind.

"Barely managing to dodge the attack, Athrun winces as the pain in his leg grows, and just manages to block a beam rifle shot from Shinn's Destiny. On the Bridge of the _Archangel_, Meyrin watches anxiously as Shinn retaliates, and Athrun's Justice is inexorably pushed back.

"Athrun…"

Meanwhile, outside, the ship's single remaining FX-550 SkyGrasper is made ready for launch. Beside it stands Neo Roanoke, who turns to look at Murrue Ramius. The two speak briefly, then Murrue turns away, tears in her eyes, and moments later, the SkyGrasper takes off.

"Damned shame…But at least now he's gone." Kojiro Murdoch mutters as he looks at the empty space where the SkyGrasper had stood for two years. He turns, and looks up to the new Freedom, just in time to see its eyes light up. The Gundam begins moving forward, towards the catapult.

"Open the hatch. I'm going out."

-"The hell? Aaaw, damn it." Murdoch contacts the Bridge as the Freedom leaves through the open hatch, positioning itself on the starboard catapult. "Captain! The kid's going out in that new mobile suit!"

-"WHAT? But Kira is…"

-"This is Kira Yamato. Freedom, let's do this!" The Strike Freedom Gundam takes off, and as its PS Armor activates, it begins moving swiftly towards Athrun's Infinite Justice and the Destiny.

* * *

I know, I suck because this one's a Cliffhanger too. I can't help it, writing the entire Battle into one Chapter would've made it far too long. Sorry.

Well anyhow, please R&R.


	10. 42: The Battle for Orb, part 3

I just can't seem to find the time to dedicate to finishing this. Anyway, here's the end to the Battle of Orb.

**DISCLAIMER**

I own _SEED Destiny_...

Yeah, right. I wish. I don't own this, it's just a fanfic...I don't know who owns this. Whoever does, this is how certain events in _SEED Destiny_ would have turned out if I did own it. But I really don't own this. Except for Johann Achtritter and the Dark Wolves.

* * *

**Phase 09: The Battle for Orb, part 3**** (Phase 42)**

Athrun Zala was in trouble. His still-injured leg was, he could feel, bleeding badly, and his reactions had slowed somewhat from the resulting loss of blood.

The enemy – Shinn – opened fire again, and Athrun was forced to block the shot with his beam shield. The Destiny Gundam was significantly faster than his Justice, though less maneuverable. At close-range, Athrun could no doubt have decimated the younger pilot, but Shinn maintained enough distance between the two machines to force Athrun to fight at long-range. And there, the faster Destiny had him good.

Counterattacking, he fired all three of his beam weapons, only to find them blocked by Shinn's own beam shield. The counter came quickly, and Athrun had to dodge the blast from the Destiny's powerful twin beam cannons. Managing to close the distance between the two machines enough, he raised the shield and fired the Justice's Grapple Stinger, a large vice-like weapon loosely based on the Extensional arrestors of the ZGMF-600 GuAIZ, but lacking its beam-edged blades.

Shinn moved out of the weapon's trajectory, swatting it aside with his forearm. Athrun retracted the weapon and, boosting forward, swung the Justice's beam saber at the Destiny. The blade impacted a beam shield, and Shinn swatted it aside and delivered a kick that sent the Justice lurching sideways, before igniting the propulsion systems of his wings. From behind, this time, Athrun fired the arrestor again, aiming to grab the Destiny's beam rifle. Shinn once again slipped sideways, and made as if to grab the cable, which promptly exploded, splitting in half and depriving the Justice of that weapon. Turning in a tight, inverted half-loop, Shinn flew straight at the Destiny, reaching for the head, the cannon in its palm now clearly visible as it prepared to fire…

A four-shot salvo from below nearly took off Shinn's arm, and one shot scored a deep gouge in the armor as it grazed it. Immediately reversing, Shinn backed off and found himself facing a new enemy.

"NO WAY! The Freedom…but how?"

-"Kira…" Athrun said, awed at the sight of the Strike Freedom Gundam as it hovered in front of his Justice, sunlight gleaming off its golden joints. Kira's Freedom held two beam rifles. The Destiny, ignoring the Justice, fires at the Freedom with its beam rifle and cannons, but the Freedom dodges, countering with its two beam rifles. Shinn blocks, docking the beam rifle. Jsut then, the Justice attacks from behind, tossing a beam boomerang which Shinn is barely able to dodge. Shinn draws the Arondight and parries the follow-up attack from the Justice's beam saber.

"SHINN! STOP THIS! How could you think attacking your homeland will destroy Logos or end this war?"

-"SHUT UP! You don't know what you're talking about!" Shinn again attacked, aiming to slash open the Justice, but Athrun ignites a second blade, which cuts the sword in half, and tries to slash the Destiny's forearm off. Shinn activates his beam shield, barely managing to block the attack. Letting go of the useless hilt, he raises the Destiny's hand and fires the Palma Fiocina, but Athrun kicks him away. Igniting the Destiny's wings, he moves out of the trajectory of two beam shots from the Freedom, which continue towards the Justice, forcing Athrun to block it. Drawing his Flash Edge II, Shinn ignites the saber and aims a downward slash at the Freedom intended to slice its torso open. Igniting both beam shields, Kira blocks the saber, then fires the railguns at point-blank range, causing minor damage to the Destiny's front waist armor.

"You bastard. What're you tryin' to pull?!" Shinn yells. Thoguhts of his family and Stella flash before him briefly, as his awareness of the battlefield suddenly expands, and he attacks the Freedom again. The enemy sidesteps and kicks the Destiny in the torso, sending Shinn reeling. Swearing violently, Shinn has to move to dodge the Justice's beam boomerang a second time, but he destroys it with the Palma Fiocina, turning and firing both cannons at the Justice, before moving again to avoid a four-shot salvo from the Freedom.

"Shinn's being overwhelmed. The Freedom and Justice are attacking him both." Rey stated as he watched the battle on the screen.

"What? We have to help him." Luna cries out. Rey, still gazing intently at the screen, pays her little mind. _Freedom. So I guess we'll have to destroy you again. This time for sure! _"I'm going out!" Lunamaria says.

-"No." Rey answers curtly, and turns away from the screen.

-"But we have to help Shinn!"

-"That's why I'm going out in the Legend. The Impulse is too weak. You'd only get in the way." Lunamaria huffed, visibly irritated, but Rey could tell he'd probably offended her. "Captain Gladys, I'm launching now."

As he walked hurriedly towards the hangar, Rey couldn't help but smile somewhat. _I can't allow Lunamaria to launch in the Impulse against them - they'd tear her apart. I won't let it happen...But what right do I have to such feelings anyway?_ Rey scoffed. He donned his helmet as he arrived in the hangar, and moments later the Legend was in the port-side catapult. "Rey Za Burrel. Legend, I'm taking off!" The Legend Gundam shot forward out of the catapult, its VPS activating, and headed straight towards the battle, carrying in its hand an Arondight Anti-Ship Beam Sword, folded. Locking on, he activated the Legend's DRAGOON System. The eight GDU-X5 remotes pivoted forward, and each one fired its twin beam cannons, the sixteen-shot salvo aimed at the Freedom, far above and ahead.

"What?" Kira barely dodged in time as a heavy beam cannon salvo shot past him, several beams narrowly missing Athrun's Justice as well. The enemy machine flew upwards, setting itself next to the Destiny, in between it and the Freedom and Justice. In its hand, it carried an enormous sword, which the Destiny's pilot seized and deployed immediately.

"It looks like...Rau's machine from the last war." Kira said as he looked at the new Gundam. And indeed it bore striking similarities to the heavily-armed X13A Providence, particularly in its design, though it was sleeker and more aggressive-looking. Undocking its beam rifle, it aimed at the Freedom and fired its still-docked DRAGOONs as well as the handheld weapon. Kira activated both beam shields just in time to block the barrage, and the Destiny, its sword replaced, turned its attention back to Athrun in the Justice, charging forward and aiming the weapon at the torso.

"The mission objective of this attack is the capture of Lord Djibril and all members of Logos remaining in Orbn, including Unato Ema Seiran and Yuna Roma Seiran." The Eurasian Commander, a gruff, bearded old man, states. "And you're saying you have one of these in custody."

-"Yuna Roma Seiran, yes. Unato Ema Seiran was killed by ZAFT forces while escaping in a limousine. I don't know where Djibril is."

-"Have you interrogated that filth Seiran?"

-"He won't say anything."

-"Then perhaps we can make adeal for Seiran, anyway. I have to consult with the other Commanders and Headquarters. In the meantime, make sure Seiran is incarcerated."

Cagalli Yula Athha nodded and cut the transmission, grateful for at least the possibility of a ceasefire. "You heard him. Take Yuna to the holding blocks immediately." Yuna was roughly yanked to his feet, struggling against his captors. One of them puched him, and he was floored. Cagalli kicked him again, right in the groin, then dragged him to his feet, ignoring his protests.

"This is Stavros Xylander of the Barton Team." The communication suddenly reached the _Minerva_. "I've reached the spaceport and am engaged with mixed enemy forces - Orb Astrays and Murasames, and black Windams and Daggers with Jet and Launcher equipment."

-"This is Johann Achritter with the Dark Wolves. We'll be heading your way in a second." The rely came instantly. "What's your situation?"

-"I'm attacking solo here, and there's a sizeable enemy force defending what appears to be a shuttle making preparations to launch without the Mass Driver. I repeat, a shuttle is preparing to launch without the Mass Driver, defended by Atlantic Federation and Orb mobile suits."

-"Lunamaria," Captain Gladys ordered "Prepare to launch immediately. Your orders are to destroy that shuttle before it can escape." Lunamaria ran to the hangar. The moment she reached her cockpit, the axial catapult began to lift and open. Moments later, she was ready.

-"Lunamaria Hawke. Core Splendor, taking off!" the small aircraft shot forward, closley followed by the X56S Impulse's Chest and Leg Flyers, then the Force Silhouette Flyer. It took a mere four seconds for the four modules to combine with the Core Splendor, and the Impulse Gundam shot forward, towards the spaceport.

Meanwhile, Orb security forces were dragging the handcuffed Yuna Roma Seiran. A ZAFT aerial mobile suit, one of the new blue models, suddenly flies low, tailed by a Murasame in its flight mode, which opens fire. The enemy MS blocks the first attack, but the follow-up salvo takes off its leg and arm. Using the distraction, Yuna shoves the guards out of the way and begins to run, muttering "I can still make it! I can still..." But at that moment, the ZGMF-2000 GOUF Ignited crashes, crushing him underneath its damaged, seventy-two-ton body. The Murasame flies by, but a GAT-01A2R Slaughter Dagger with the Eurasian Federation attacks, and the older mobile suit cripples the newer, faster but less agile Murasame before it has a chance to transform, sending it crashing to the ground before landing to recover the GOUF's pilot, shaken but still very much alive.

"This is EFGF Slaughter Dagger 0821R with the 82nd. I've recovered an allied pilot shot down near enemy GHQ. Reporting Yuna Roma Seiran killed by falling MS." The pilot radioed to the EF Command, before heading towards shore to drop off the pilot near one of the ZAFT landing craft, and returning to the coastal assault. The EF Commander muttered "Now all that's left is Djibril. Send all available forces towards the spaceport. Support ZAFT and stop that shuttle from escaping no matter what!"

A team of JET Dagger-Ls were the closest, though currently engaged in a strafing run against the Strike Freedom.

"All right guys, let's do this run and head for the spaceport." The pilot waited for the larger ZAFT MS to fire, then gave the order, hoping to catch the enemy in the crossfire. The Daggers fired their beam carbines and released every missile they had just as a flurry of beams from the ZAFT machine's circular backpack shot towards the Freedom. It almost worked, but the Freedom blocked the attack with a pair of energy shields and countered, firing a barrage from two beam rifles, its stomach-mounted cannon, and the hip-mounted guns. A ZAFT ms intervened, its own beam shields blocking the assault, before it retaliated with its own two beam cannons.

"Thanks, pilot." The Dagger Team leader transmitted. The video thumbnail showed the ZAFT pilot was quite young, but fiercely determined. Nodding, he said. "You heard the orders. Fly support for the Impulse, help destroy that shuttle." He then turned to the other, red/pink machine, while his wingman assaulted the Freedom.

-"Roger that. You heard 'im, boys!" and the five machines turned towards the Impulse, a sleek, Strike Gundam-like machine that'd jsut launched and headed for the spaceport. Out the corner of his eye, the team leader spotted an enemy formation also headed towards the spaceport, as the shuttle began to launch. "Aaaw, hell!"

The Seiran crest was clearly visible on the tail fin, and Cagalli swore, ordering Kisaka to lead forces to try and intercept the shuttle. She spotted the Impulse, a team of Daggers, and Murasames converging towards the spaceport, and opened a line to the EF fleet, asking to speak to its Commander, but she was denied. In the shuttle, Djibril smirked. "We could no longer afford to wait. Seiran'll take care of himself, assuming he can escape ZAFT, or is even still alive. But I don't care - I will play my Requiem for the Coordinators, and end this war once and for all. For the Preservation of our Blue and Pure World!"

Lunamaria spotted the shuttle, locking on just as it overflew, and fired the beam rifle repeatedly, simultaneously heading upwards to try and close the gap. Her shots barely missed, and she corrected, but jsut as she was about to fire, a salvo from the side nearly shot the Impulse to pieces, and she was forced to move to avoid a flight of Orb Murasames. She was barely avoiding the onslaught, and one of them attacked her with its beam saber. Before she could draw her one, its head, arm, and both legs were picked off, and the dismembered Murasame plummeted, crashing to the ground. A GAT-02L2 Dagger L equipped with a Jet flight pack flew by, followed by four more.

-"We'll take care of these gutys, you go after the shuttle!" And the five MS proceeded to destroy the Murasames, though one of their own suffered severe damage from a missile barrage. Luna shot forward and fired repeatedly, but it was too late - the shuttle had reached escape velocity. The enemy attack had cost her precious seconds, and Operation Fury had failed. "DAMN IT!!!!" She cried, echoing the cries of numerous pilots who saw the shuttle disappear.

"Withdraw all forces - We'll head back to Gibraltar!" Captain Gladys ordered, taking command of the ZAFT fleet,jsut as her opposite number in the Eurasian Forces gave the same order.

-"But wouldn't that go agaisnt Chairman Durandal's orders?" Arthur Trine, her XO, asked.

-"Our orders were to capture Djibril. Plainly, he's managed to slip through our fingers again." Talia responded, glaring darkly at the Freedom and the Justice, the cause of this. Derspite what that Lacus Clyne had said in that confusing broadcast, the Freedom and Justice were plainly under her orders - which made them terrorists in Talia's view. Whether she was or not the real Lacus Clyne, or whatever she claimed, her intervention had allowed Djibril to escape...and so had Cagalli Yula Athha's. Talia shook her head. "Give the order to withdraw."

Shinn saw the flares as they went up. Shoving the Justice away, he formed up with Rey, glaring contemptuously at Athrun's Justice. "Well, I hope you're happy, Athrun. Thanks to you, Djibril escaped. I suppose that's what you wanted, isn't it?" He cut the link as Athrun began to stammer a reply, and began to move away.

The Freedom's thrusters suddenly disengaged, and it began to drop like a stone. Shinn stopped, hesitating for a moment. Clearly, the pilot had passed out, which meant if he opened fire now, he could kill him easily, and for good this time. The Justice engaged its thrusters and flew straight down after the Freedom, getting below and catching it. For a split second, SHinn considered firing and taking them both out. But he didn't. He opened a link to both machines.

"I could kill you both right now, you know. I could shoot you, and you wouldn't be able to do a thing to stop it - You'd both die. But I won't." Shinn turned back towards the _Minerva_. "But next time, Athrun. Next time, I'll kill you."

Athrun returned to the Morgenroete compound and left his cockpit. his flightsuit leg was soaked with blood, and he felt faint, but her opened the Freedom's cockpit and hoisted Kira out. Murdoch and the ship's doctor both took him out and to the medical bay. He was bleeding very badly, and his forehead felt warm. To his surprise, Shinn saw the SkyGrasper on the hangar deck, and Mwu...no, Neo stood nearby.

Athrun stood on the deck, saluted briefly at Neo - more out of habit than anything else - and looked up at the Freedom and Justice, thinking about what Shinn had said. He was right - with the Freedom out of action and him in the Justice holding it, Shinn could easily have killed them both - He would've had to drop Kira to defend from an attack, and in Kira's weakened state, the surface impact from thirty meters up would certainly have killed him. And if not, Shinn could easily have fatally shot the Freedom as it sank.

On the deck, he contacted Cagalli. Lacus had gone to the medical bay to see Kira.

"Hey. How'd you make out?"

-"Djibril escaped, and ZAFT withdrew. the Akatsuki's badly damaged, though. It'll take a while to repair, even though we have spare parts. Other than that, I guess I'm okay."

-"Something's bothering you."

-"Unato Ema and Yuna Roma Seiran are both dead. The government's in shambles, and the Seirans' residence was destroyed. I'll have to piece together the govermnent all over again."

-"We'll be there to help if you need us."

-"Thanks Athrun." Cagalli said, and she really looked relieved. As she cut the link, Athrun caught a glimpse of a ring on her finger, and he smiled.

* * *

Battle of Orb's finally over, thankfully. Yes, I skipped over that ridiculous broadcast SNAFU. It just irritated me far too much - but it still happened. Other than that I'm rather pleased with how it turned out, actually. And I'm trying my best to make Cagalli and Athrun less pathetic than they were in the series without straying too far. 

Anyhow, he next chapter is a RADICAL departure from established _SEED Destiny_ canon, as the events depicted therein will be entirely of my invention. There are currently two such Interludes planned, the first occurring immediately after the Battle of Orb, the second shortly after the _Minerva_ participates in the capture of Requiem.

Well anyhow, please R&R.


	11. INTERLUDE 1: Sorrowful Song

As promised, a sequence of events not taken in any way, shape or form from the _Gundam SEED _or _SEED Destiny _storyline.

**DISCLAIMER**

I own _SEED Destiny_...I wish. It would've turned out so different if I did.

_Gundam SEED Destiny_ is the copyrighted property of Bandai/Sunrise. Though the events told in this chapter are entirely of my creation, the characters in these events remain the copyrighted property of Bandai/Sunrise.

* * *

**INTERLUDE 1: Sorrowful Song**

In the high-ceilinged control chamber of ZAFT's Messiah Space Fortress, Chairman Gilbert Durandal reviewed the events of the last twenty-four hours. Lacus Clyne had come out in the open, so he couldn't use Meer any longer. She had been send with a bodyguard to Copernicus City on the Moon. And Operation Fury had failed, because a handful of terrorists using stolen ZAFT hardware had assisted Orb's defense forces, bolstered by an intriguing new model.

The single greatest example of international military cooperation since the Bloody Valentine War had been thwarted, and while all other members of Logos were dead or awaiting trial for crimes against humanity, the ringleader, Blue Cosmos leader Djibril, had escaped. Needless to say, Gilbert Durandal was furious.

That was when a very peculiar report came to his attention: Unusual activity near the remains of disaffected Closed-Type O'Neill I-3 colonies. The nearest of these was the old Gounod colony. He contacted ZAFT military headquarters and ordered the Jule Team to be send out to Gounod to investigate. As he pondered the situation, a communication came in from the Eurasian Federation's president.

"Chairman Durandal."

"Ah, yes, President Ashford. I'm sorry to say, our joint effort to capture Djibril seems to have failed."

-"Yes, it has, thanks to Orb. The military command has been itching to attack that troublesome nation - there are grounds for it, as they were sheltering a terrorist wanted for crimes against humanity."

-"Very true. However, I think not. Now is not the time to strike at Orb itself, not yet. I'm more concerned about what Djibril will do here in space."

-"Artemis informed us that they tracked Djibril's shuttle to the moon. It's possible he may be at Azarchel, or at the Federation's new base at Daedalus Crater. Our outpost at Ptolemaus is still incomplete, so they could not help. We have some forces stationed at Daedalus, so I will see if we can't confirm anything."

-"Thank you, Madam President. I will consider what to do about this situation and contact you. Though I would advise you withdraw your forces from Daedalus and transfer them to either Artemis or Ptolemaios as soon as can be."

-"I'll bear that in mind." President Ashford said, and she cut the connection. Chairman Durandal leaned back, his eyes closed, and thought about this curious report about Gounod. He also thought about the extensive facilities they'd captured in the Debris Belt, and wished he could find and destroy the _Eternal_.

"Aww, man. I still can't quite get it." Lunamaria muttered to herself, as the holographic target, digital bullet "holes" scattered across its torso and head, several of them to either side of the target, changed, and her results were printed on a display screen. Sliding the earmuffs off, she reloaded the gun, and slipped them back on before she began again. Just as the heavy earmuffs covered her ears, she heard a few hesitant piano notes. _Rey's at the piano again? I thought he'd left an hour ago._

The _Minerva_ was currently at Carpentaria, and the pilots and crew had been given a few days' sabbatical while repairs were made before the ship returned at last to outer space - presumably to follow Djibril. Rey had said he was going to head back to the ship. Shinn was locked in his room, and Luna had gone for a while into town with Abby, the new CIC. She was nice enough, but Luna missed Meyrin. So when she'd gotten back, she headed to the shooting gallery to practice.

She finished, and once again took off the earmuffs. And she froze. Through the thick door, she could hear, very faintly, an unfamiliar tune being played on the piano. _Rey must've composed something new again._ she thought - a piano aficionado and an excellent player, her teammate Rey Za Burrel had composed several tunes that were uite lovely, though they sounded similar. But the more she listened, the more intrigued she was, as this tune seemd to sound quite different. Putting down her gun, earmuffs, and safety glasses, she left the gallery.

Outside, the tune was more clearly audible. It was a slow, hauntingly beautiful melody, and unbearably sad. She started walking towards the wide, high-ceilinged lounge, in which a black grand piano was set up, for the benefit of those who could play. She was walking hurriedly, without paying attention, when she ran headlong into someone coming from another direction.

It was Rey, who seemed surprised to see her.

"REY?!"

-"Lunamaria."

-"If that's not you playing, then who is it?" Without waiting for an answer, she stood and started off again, Rey following her. A thin smile played briefly across the blonde's face, but it soon disappeared. They reached the lounge, and Luna stopped dead in her tracks. The music ended, and the one playing the piano stood. He wiped his forearm across his eyes, and turned to face the new arrivals, a sad smile on his face.

-"When did...since when can you play the piano?!!" Lunamaria asked. Rey smiled again.

-"All those long afternoons spent trying, back at the Academy. I was under the impression that none of what I tried to teach you over a year made a difference. That was beautiful, Shinn." Shinn Asuka looked embarrassed, and Luna just looked from him to Rey, appearing even more shocked.

-"Thanks. I was walking by just a while ago, and I saw the piano - it's the same one as the Academy's, d'you remember?"

-"Yes, I do. Did you compose that tune, or..."

-"I was thinking, and it just...it just sort of came to me. It took a few tries before I got the hang of it, and then I just started playing."

-"Would you mind playing it for us again?" Rey asked.

-"Sure thing." Shinn answered. He sat down, hesitating. He struck a few tentative notes, started hesitantly, and stopped. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes, and started playing again. It really was a beautiful tune, but it was one of the saddest Rey had ever heard. Lunamaria was gaping, apparently still unable to believe what she saw and heard. Rey wondered at what could possibly be the reason for the melody's unbearable sadness, and he listened carefully, mentally recording every single note. After about five minutes, the music slowly wound to a stop.

Shinn stood, and turned wordlessly away. Rey could see tears in his eyes, and he followed Shinn to their temporary quarters on the base.

"It really was a beautiful melody, Shinn. But it is very sad."

-"You think so?...I guess it is, at that."

-"What inspired you? Was it..." And as he looked at his best friend, suddenly everything made sense. "You really love her, don't you? That's why..."

-"Yeah. Yeah, I do."

-"I understand." Rey said. _Love...a luxury I don't have, and something he has sorely lacked. We really are perfect opposites, him and I._

"Herr Doktor...the patient in the east ward...she's awake."

-"Sehr gut. I will see." Doktor Müller, of Magdeburg's general hospital, walked briskly towards the East Ward, which housed two patients - both military. The first was in stable but critical condition, and would likely need to be transferred to a better facility within days. She had come in some time ago, and had yet to regain consciousness. But the second, younger patient was the one Müller was concerned with. Her wounds had healed, but she was pale, sickly, and had frequent, violent relapses. Her bloodwork had yielded startling results, and it had taken all of his expertise to get a handle on her condition, leaving young Günter Klein to deal with the other one. As he entered her room, he saw her standing, facing the window and gazing south-east. She turned, started, and relaxed when she recognized that he meant no harm. She whispered a foreign-sounding word, a name, perhaps. "Shin", it sounded like.

He addressed her in hesitant English. Günter spoke better English, but the first time he tried to treat her, she shattered his forearm and nearly broke his nose - evidently, she was a highly skilled hand-to-hand fighter. He'd eventually recovered enough, but he took care of the other patient - Very, very severely injured, it had taken nearly a full week before they'd gotten her more or less stable. She was alive, but very weak, and in a coma - Günter thought she might never come out, but Müller disagreed. He turned his attention to his young patient, who looked at him. She had the most wonderful eyes. Like his daughter's.

"Fraülein...Stella, ja?" she nodded. "It's time to get you treated. Sit down, please?" She hesitated, then slowly left the window and sat down. Doktor Müller thought about what Günter had told him, about the angry young man, what had been his name? It might've been Shin-something. Whoever he was, Doktor Müller sincerely hoped he would return for his young charge, and soon...

* * *

That was fun, and longer than I thought it'd be. The tune played by Shinn in this episode is a piano instrumenal based on _Shinkai no Kodoku_, Stella's image song. 

Well anyhow, what did y'all think? I almost hate to have to get back to the normal storyline after this. The next Interlude will probably integrate some events from the canonical story, and it'll be pretty soon. (Have a guess at who that other patient might be, if you want.) Reviews, please?

THANKS A MILLION!!!


End file.
